The data is still sound, whether you think having to borrow or sell something to pay an expense is still not being able to pay that expense or not.
Further, pointing out the distinction between these two groups does not strongly debunk the data. That's nit-picking, at best. This should still be concerning, even if it's improved over the past few years.
Of course, whether cash or put on a credit card to be paid off at month's end, that doesn't really say anything about how painful that unexpected expense is. One can cover an expense and realize they're not going to be able to take a vacation this year. There's a continuum between "I can't pay this" and "Whatever."
But it's hard for me to see cash vs. checking account vs. credit card that will be paid off in a few weeks as materially different.