Chart of the Day

Aaron Carroll, via the Dish:

Overall, in 2009-2010, more than 80% of employed adults age 18-64 had health insurance. But only 48% of unemployed adults in the same age group had insurance. But it gets worse. Less than 30% of unemployed adults had private insurance (less than a third!), versus more than three-quarters of employed people
Many people like to think that being uninsured is a “choice”. And they’re correct, in the sense that you can “choose” not to buy insurance. I get that. But many people “choose” not to buy insurance for the sole reason that it’s crazy expensive. The average – not gold plated, but average – employer sponsored insurance plan for an individual plan in the United States last year was $5429. And that was just the premium. It didn’t include deductibles, co-pays, or co-insurance. The average family plan was $15,073. The median salary in the US, on the other hand, was less than $50,000 for households. For individuals, the median paycheck is $26,364.
When you’re making that amount, and you lose your job, paying for that insurance plan is no longer possible. Paying for COBRA is even harder, as it’s usually more expensive. So sometimes you get poor enough to go on Medicaid. Or, if you’re in the majority of states that offer no Medicaid benefits whatsoever to adults who aren’t parents of children, you go uninsured.

There is a lot of valuable information there.  But the reliance of the system on employer provided insurance is so puzzling.  I really thought that the strongest proponents of a public option would be small businessmen and their trade organizations.  It would have done wonders for their bottom line, and probably more than made up the costs of additional taxes.  Instead, they were some of the stiffest resistance to "ObamaCare," and now they have to deal with more regulations.  It sure seems like a case of ideology trumping self-interest.  But, so is their support of the current tax code, which punishes people with high earned incomes as compared to people with high unearned incomes.  The same small businesspeople, if looking out for their own interests, would push to consider at least dividends as regular income, and would push for more tax brackets with some higher marginal rates on stratospheric incomes to help separate the top 4.98% from the top 0.02%.  Apparently, their feeling of connection to the superrich, and their distrust of government overrules their self-interest.