Health Insurance

The article “Number of Californians Not Covered by Health Insurance Jumps 50%” (Part I, Aug. 2), really hit home here. Medical Insurance is indeed a “bitter pill to swallow!” It is also a classic Catch-22 example . . . “Few can afford not to have it, and even fewer can afford to have it.”

I just received a $425 annual increase on our three-person, $1,000 deductable per person Family Prudent Buyer Plan. As costly as it already is, this plan further dictates which doctors, labs, hospitals, etc., we must select; otherwise only 70% of the plan’s “evaluation of acceptable charges” are covered. I might add that we have yet to qualify for any reimbursement, and have paid to date over $7,000 in premiums during the past six years.

As a part-time employee, I have no group medical coverage at work. Now that I am middle-aged, I am hardly in a position to play insurance roulette.

So, where do we go from here? Why is it unrealistic for the insurers to lower rates and (hopefully) make their medical plans affordable to the majority, which would in turn multiply capital revenues of the insurance field? To continue raising rates, and subsequently lose both group and individual clients, is no solution, it is a “dead end.”. What lies ahead of all this . . . socialized medicine?

M.C. TRUDEAU

Laguna Niguel