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An Axiology for National Health Insurance
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
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Approximately 35 million Americans have no health insurance coverage. They receive no health insurance where they work, nor do they qualify for Medicare, Medicaid, or any other program of health insurance. Eighty-five percent of these Americans live in households headed by someone working full time. One third of the 35 million uninsured are children.
Several reasonable inferences can be drawn from these statistics. First, the problem of the uninsured is a serious one in the United States. Thirty-five million Americans represent approximately 15 percent of the population. Second, the fact that the vast majority of the uninsured are in households headed by a working American shows that this problem is systemic. It is not simply a matter of unemployment, nor is it linked significantly to laziness or refusal to work. Finally, the fact that over 10 million uninsured Americans are children shows that many of the uninsured have this status beyond any intelligible notion of personal responsibility.
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References
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