According to the most recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 50 million Americans lack any health insurance. The bureau defines insurance as private, such as that provided by an employer, or government, such as Medicare, Medicaid or military health care.
The uninsured include 20.5 million non-Hispanic whites, 14.8 million Hispanics and 7.4 million blacks. Many of the uninsured live in households that make $50,000 or less a year -- 28 million Americans. A significant number are children -- 8.1 million. People living in the South or the West are most likely to be without insurance -- 20.2 million in the South and 11.8 million in the West.
According to the census report, 33.2 million of the uninsured are native-born Americans, 2.7 million are naturalized citizens and 9.7 million are non-U.S. citizens. There are probably many additional uninsured people who are illegal immigrants -- a group that doesn't tend to be very receptive to census takers.
Of course this doesn't tell us why they lack insurance. There are several factors involved of course, lack of employment or working at a job that does not offer a plan. Failure to take advantage of plans that are being offered, and of course the so called invincible. The people who can afford insurance but decline for personal reasons.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Austin Horse talks about his collision with a taxi cab with the sort of droll indifference you might expect from a 24-year-old."Every now and then, you know, there'll be accidents or mishaps where a car hits me," said Horse, a full-time bike messenger, smiling as he leans against his mottled, rusted bike frame. "You try to avoid those."
His apathy might be understandable if he had not already had a cab roll over his legs, had not already plowed into car doors while biking, and had not already had countless other mishaps during the past four years cycling around New York City streets.
"Once I was run over by a taxi and another time I had a livery cab knock me off my bike and I got stuck in a sewage grate," said Horse.Despite his inherently dangerous job -- Horse has made a couple of trips to the emergency room in the past few years -- he is working without health insurance.
Horse is one of millions of what the insurance industry has dubbed "young invincibles," a group of 18-to 29-year-olds who reside in a precarious gray area when it comes to insurance coverage. Many work low-wage jobs, yet they just miss qualifying for government low-income health insurance programs. They can no longer get insurance under their parents' plans
Its estimated that almost a third of the people who uninsured could be classified as invincible.
There is so many risks this man is taking on his daily rides. It's unfortunate that health insurance is not in the books for him or for many other americans that just can't afford having that coverage.
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