As I pointed out here, there is much less than meets the eye in the recent Census Bureau report concerning the uninsured. That did not, of course, prevent single-payer advocates from advertising it as proof that the “crisis” of the uninsured had reached critical mass.

Fortunately, some analysts have actually examined the data. Jeff Goldsmith, at the Health Affairs blog, shows that the “plight of the uninsured” is nowhere near as dire as the advocates of government-run health care would have us believe. Regarding the reported increase, he reveals the following:

Almost the entire increase in people without health insurance from 2005 to 2006 took place in families with incomes above $50,000.

And most of these families are way over that modest benchmark:

Two-thirds of the 2005-2006 increase was actually in families with incomes above $75,000!

Well, you ask, what about the working poor?

The number of uninsured people in families whose incomes were below $25,000 actually declined by about 4%.

So, what we have here is a “crisis” of choice. Most of the fabled uninsured fall into two categories: people who can afford coverage but choose not to buy it and people who are eligible for government aid but choose not to apply for it.

This is not a problem that warrants a government takeover of health care.