Dear Editor:
The Congressional Budget office has projected that by 2026, 24 million more people than under current law will not have health insurance. Twenty-four million sounds like a very large number, but big numbers in a vacuum don't mean much to me. I have to visualize them in more concrete ways, to put a face on them.
The population of Missouri is a little over six million so that's almost four times the population of the entire state of Missouri. In fact, I would have to add together the populations of the states of Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado to come fairly close to 24 million.
That's a lot of faces. White faces, brown faces, black faces. Faces of children, expecting mothers, worried fathers, and careworn seniors. Faces of working people, farm families, and city dwellers. Faces of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society. Illness and disease strike indiscriminately, not caring about age, income, social status or whether one can afford health care.
While a portion of the uninsured may be by choice, too often that choice will be made simply because the individual, particularly if lower income and between the ages of 50 and 64, cannot afford to pay the premiums. Many of these 24 million will end up in emergency rooms or will fail to get preventive health care that would save lives and costs in the long run.
Indeed, 24 million is a very large number. It's a great many faces, a great many very real people.