Health insurance and reform

Re “Shopping for healthcare,” editorial, Feb. 6

You do not mention that those of us who have had the misfortune of having a serious illness cannot go shopping for healthcare.

We are the untouchables in the world of health insurance. Although I am healthy now and rarely go to the doctor, insurance companies won’t even talk to me because I had cancer some years ago. Some have even hung up on me the minute I have said, “Yes, I’ve had cancer.”

Presently there is a bill under consideration, SB 840, for universal single-payer healthcare for all Californians. When everyone is covered, we’re all better off. We must stop putting ineffective Band-Aids on our broken healthcare system and work for real reform.

MARTHA STEVENS

Studio City

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Your call for refundable tax credits to the working poor for health insurance is welcome. People who struggle to provide for their own healthcare should not have the added burden of paying for it from after-tax income. If they cannot afford the healthcare, they surely cannot afford to pay taxes on it. That is why health savings accounts are also important.

These accounts help people make decisions on price and other factors in the marketplace in an affordable way. That is the best way to optimize the availability and quality of healthcare far more efficiently than a government that tries to provide everything to everybody -- and make their healthcare decisions for them.

RICHARD E. RALSTON

Executive Director

Americans for Free Choice

in Medicine, Newport Beach