Uninsured by choice: A 'calculated risk'

As part as the ongoing series, "Are You Covered?" by NPR and Kaiser Health News, Lyn Robinson is profiled because she part of the group known as "voluntarily uninsured." She "estimates that health insurance would cost her about $500 a month. That's a lot of money for a policy that might not even cover the kind of preventive care she values" (Jenkins, 10/3).

KHN offers insights into why some people choose not to have health insurance. "Not all of America's 46 million uninsured people can be considered victims of a system that excludes them financially or because of pre-existing conditions. According to an unpublished Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of the CDC's 2008 National Health Interview Survey, 2 percent of uninsured people said they simply didn't want health insurance. Some experts say others who could - and should - buy insurance choose not to because they perceive the costs as too high" (Weaver, 10/3). See the video.