Last week the world of big league baseball stopped and honored its all-stars. The players are chosen by fans who rely on statistics to determine if a player is just good or if he’s an all-star. These numbers give fans a way of understanding who is playing well, even if they cannot see every game.

So it is with the Census Bureau. It collects data that it puts into statistics so that we can better understand our country and its people.

The Census Bureau, in its most recent survey, found that slightly less than 47 million Americans are without health insurance. 9.1 million individuals making over $75,000 lack health insurance. Many of those individuals could purchase health insurance, but choose not too.

Another 9.7 million or 21 percent of the uninsured are not American citizens at all. I do not think anyone would argue that American taxpayers should foot the bill for illegal immigrants to have health care.

Nearly 60% of the uninsured, about 26.5 million, are under the age of 35 with the highest rate coming from Americans aged 18-24. The uninsured are not a permanent group. Some are changing jobs, some are in school or just graduating from school.

There is no doubt that there are many Americans who would like health insurance and do not have it. However, I am not convinced that spending $1 trillion dollars and completely overhauling our health care system is the best way to extend health care to as many Americans as possible.

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