The Unhealthy Side of Private Insurers

In his Oct. 24 letter, Ken Artingstall wrote that “there may be 41 million uninsured Americans, but each of them can find some kind of coverage at reasonable cost with a little effort and by making sacrifices between luxuries and necessities. The nanny state does not have to be the solution.”

Not only is this a cruel and unsympathetic attitude toward the uninsured, many of whom are unemployed, elderly and/or seriously ill, but it is naive about private insurers. Private insurers are in the business to make money. They will not insure people with serious health conditions. Those they do insure will have no coverage for “preexisting conditions,” and renewals are not guaranteed.

George Schroedter

Glendora

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Wake up and smell the roses. Get sick, lose your job, try to put food on the table and maintain housing and that insurance premium is unaffordable. Lose your insurance and try to buy it back. Then you find out you have a “preexisting condition” with your former longtime insurance carrier and can’t get coverage at any price. It happened to me.

Kathleen Marcotulli

Beverly Hills