According to the CPS data, the uninsured have lower-than-average incomes; nearly two-thirds of the uninsured are in families with incomes below twice the poverty line. Not all the uninsured are poor, however: 20% of the uninsured are in families with incomes above 50,000 per year. Seventy percent of the uninsured are in families where the family head is a full-time, full-year worker, but is either not offered health insurance or doesn't take it up to cover himself or his family members. Thus, the modal uninsured person is a member of what might be called the working poor class: below median income, but not among the poorest in the nation.

To cover the uninsured the government must:

1. do the pooling. The most efficient way of providing health insurance is through a pool,...