On Friday, the Washington Post ran an op-ed (registration may be required) that made a few dubious claims. Michael Kinsley claims that “more and more Americans have no health insurance at all,” and that Americans consider “the best possible health care to be a right.” He then goes on to argue that we shouldn’t worry about government rationing of health care, because, really, the only services that will be cut out are the unnecessary, costly ones.
Today, the Washington Post printed my letter to the editor. While I wonder how the financial collapse and fallout affects the number of uninsured, the most recent annual report of the Census Bureau does not back up Kinsley’s claim. Both the number and percentage of uninsured fell according to that report, and the 2007 percentage is a full percentage point lower than the 1998 figure. Moreover, if Americans believe that government provided health care is a right, I ask if rationing would not be a rights violation.
