True North

This article by the Times' Pamela Brogan says that "About 180 working-age Minnesotans die prematurely each year because they don't have health insurance, a health advocacy group estimates." Here's another set of stats that Ms. Brogan cites:

About 9.2 percent of all Minnesotans, an estimated 475,000 people, were uninsured during 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau said.

Actually, the latest statistics show that 93 percent of Minnesotans are insured. Of those that aren't insured, 59 percent of them are eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance. What that means is that approximately 2.87 percent of Minnesotans don't have health insurance and aren't eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance.

My question for Ms. Brogan and to the DFL that keep talking about major health care reform is simple: Where's the crisis? That's before we consider the stats King cites in this post:

Minnesota supplanted Vermont as the nation's most healthy state, marking the first time since 1999 that Minnesota has come out on top in the annual survey. In its "Health Care State Rankings 2008: Health Care Across America" survey released Wednesday, the publisher examined 21 factors such as access to health care providers, affordability of health care and the general health of the populationto come up with this year's list.

New Hampshire came in second followed by Vermont, which won the award as the nation's most healthy state six out of the last seven years. Maine and Massachusetts round out the top five.

Let's review this. Minnesotans that aren't insured and that aren't eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health insurance is a statistically insignificant 2.87 percent. That's before we acknowledge that Minnesota is the healthiest state in the union.

It's worth asking this again:

Where's the crisis?

Comments welcome at LFR.