“What we're trying to explain is, is that all we’re trying to make sure of is that there is an option out there for people where the public--where the free market fails,” said President Obama. “And we’ve got to admit that the free market has not worked perfectly when it comes to health care, because you've got a lot of people who are really getting hurt: 46 million uninsured.”    That seems like a pretty big number, maybe the mean and greedy free market doesn't work when it comes to health insurance.

As reported in CNS News, and according to the Census Bureau, 9.7 million of the approximately 46 million uninsured people in the United States are not American citizens. In other words, about 21 percent of the uninsured in this country are citizens of other nations who are living here.  Subtract this 10 million, and now we are down to 36 million uninsured Americans.  Next, I went to the Pacific Research Institute to read their recent publication called Myth of 46 Million.  There I learned that nearly 18 million Americans earn over $50,000 per year, but choose not to purchase health insurance.  Besides that group, another 14 million Americans are already eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP, but don't use it.  This drops the total to 4 million Americans who appear to be unable to afford health insurance out of a population greater than 300 million.

Really, the free market doesn't work?