Letters: Healthcare costs, here and there

Re “Move traps a patient in rate hike,” Column, Nov. 13

Another fine David Lazarus column showing corporate emperors with no clothes, and apparently no shame.

Wonder how the “premium risk” zones are laid out? I would bet that they use ZIP Codes.

Health insurance providers should have a website feature where customers could enter potential new ZIP Codes before buying or moving to see exactly how much their monthly premium might rise or fall.

Jim Smith
Palos Verdes Estates

We have also discovered the unfairness of pricing for health insurance.

We have a bare-bones Anthem Blue Cross policy. We paid $333 a month. We moved from West Los Angeles, right next to the freeway (think pollution) up to a sagebrush-covered hillside north of Boise, Idaho. Our new Blue Cross premium for slightly less coverage: $514.

A big increase, yet doctors generally cost less here, as do many other things, and certainly we are surrounded by fewer carcinogens, there is less traffic and we drive less. When I asked why, I was told it is because the pool of people here is smaller than in California, so the risk is spread among fewer people.

Crista Worthy
Hidden Springs, Idaho

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