Let’s not propose health co-ops
Re: Michael Hiltzik’s business column “Will U.S. learn state’s health lesson?” Sept. 14:
The column raises an important point about how, with minor changes, “you can turn a boon for the consumer into a windfall for big business.”
The public option has support from three-fourths of the public, yet we hear from the political class that it would have a hard time passing.
If insurance lobbyists can squelch something the vast majority want, they can easily see to it that the design for co-ops is bad, noncompetitive and unregulated. The health insurance industry is skilled at gaming the system (for example, offering insurance and then rescinding it when patients need it).
Let’s not introduce co-ops, which rely on a lot of details that can be gamed. Let’s get something simple that people want, a public option.
David Greene
San Pedro
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