---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: barry levine
Date: Sun, Jul 17, 2016 at 7:49 PM
Subject: re: Insurers, Pushing for Higher Rates, Challenge Key Component of Health Law
To: "letters@nytimes.com"
To the Editor:
As you note, "subsidies to help pay premiums" shield consumers partially from drastic hikes in insurance costs. But they do nothing to reduce the total cost of healthcare in this country. Americans currently pay more for healthcare than anyone, anywhere, has paid since the invention of money, and we don't have superior health outcomes to show for it. RomneyCare (AKA Affordable Care Act) guarantees the profitability of our Insurance Companies rather than optimizing the delivery of health care. Against this background, some version of Single Payer would represent a vast simplification of administrative costs, an vast improvement in tracking medical records and--if dozens of foreign experiments are any guide--a substantial saving of money over our current fee-for-service hodgepodge.
Barry Haskell Levine
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/us/politics/insurers-pushing-for-higher-rates-challenge-key-component-of-health-law.html
