Subject: Re: Buffett’s view on current account deficits
26,440,000 people in the US lacked health insurance as of 2023, 8% of the population. Then there's a slew of people who are under-insured, covered with high deductible plans that do not adequately protect them against financial disaster.

So, I'd say that universal coverage is indeed a problem. It was a huge fight that lasted a decade to get the Affordable Care Act settled in place, with a big increase in the number of people insured. It will take a similar effort to extend insurance to the last 8%.

What percentage of those 26m people without coverage are either (a) not legal residents of the USA and thus would also not qualify for a universal healthcare insurance plan; or (b) sufficiently wealthy that they would just as soon pay out of pocket, rather than purchase a plan?

I have heard that most of the 8% are in the first category, and there must surely be a not insignificant percentage that would fall into the second category, but I don’t know what the numbers are.