24 Mar 2007 Frank Drebin Does Health Insurance

From David Hogberg:

Today the Census Bureau revised its 2005 estimate of the uninsured downward from 46.5 million to 44.8 million. Well, what is an organization like the Commonwealth Fund that is dedicated to more government involvement in health care supposed to do? First, employ the Frank Drebin approach of All-Right Move-On-Nothing-To-See-Here:

While the new Census Bureau figures on health insurance released today reveal that the 2005 estimates were lower than previously reported, they nevertheless affirm that the number of Americans without insurance has risen rapidly since 2000.

Of course, when Drebin uses that approach, he’s usually trying to distract attention away from a nuclear bomb that just went off. Granted, the Census Bureau’s revised numbers don’t quite fall into the nuclear category, but by looking at this table you can actually see why the new 44.8 million number has the Commonwealth Fund a bit worried. It actually represents a decrease of 500,000 from 2004.

So, could you please just ignore that and only compare today’s revised number with that from 2000? That way, this plea from the Commonwealth Fund makes far more sense:

While it is good to have the corrected Census Bureau data, the new figure still reflects an upward trend in the total number of uninsured. It should serve as another reminder that we as a nation should be working toward a health system that is truly high performing-one that provides accessible, high-quality, equitable, patient-centered care for all.

I don’t know. Something just doesn’t sound right.

_____

Labels: Health Care