The Census Bureau’s latest count of insurance coverage is being met with the usual hysteria by the left-wing organizations and the media. But there are some interesting tidbits here that you will not see reported anywhere. For instance, although the numbers are very small the percentages of people covered in EVERY form of coverage dropped from 2005 to 2006. To wit –

Private Coverage –     2005, 68.5%:     2006, 67.9%
Employer-Based  --     2005, 60.2%:     2006, 59.7%
Direct Purchase –       2005, 9.2%:       2006, 9.1%
All Government –        2005, 27.3%:     2006, 27.0%
Medicare –                 2005, 13.7%:     2006, 13.6%
Medicaid –                 2005, 13.0%:     2006, 12.9%
Military  --                  2005, 3.8%:       2006, 3.6%

Now this is strange. How could it be that the percentage of people covered by Medicare and the Military dropped from 2005 to 2006? I expect that the methodology is flawed and the Census Bureau will come back with a revision in a few months as it did for the 2005 numbers.

But the standard line you will hear is how private coverage is failing. And yet the percentage of people covered by government programs decreased more than the percentage covered by private programs (1.1% versus 0.87%). I doubt you will hear very much about how government programs are failing.

A couple of other items of note:

The rate of non-insurance for all children is 11.7%, but the rate for children in poverty is a whopping 19.3%. This is after 10 years of SCHIP! This fact certainly supports the Bush administration’s argument against diluting SCHIP funds by extending eligibility to middle class children and adults.

The uninsured are intensely concentrated. While only 10.8% of non-Hispanic whites are uninsured, 34.% of Hispanics are uninsured. But being of foreign birth is not the key determination, citizenship is. 16.4% of naturalized citizens are uninsured (pretty close to the national average), but 45% of non-citizens are uninsured! Wow!

SOURCE: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/news_conferences/010500.html