wakalix

Two letters in response to my Rocky Mountain News article

The business section of the Denver Rocky Mountain News published two letters in response to my article published there on April 28. Terry W. Donze of Wheat Ridge appreciated my article, so that’s certainly nice to see. According to my web search, he’s a geophysicist with at least one interesting publication.
Micki Amick, the author of the negative letter, seems to have misunderstood my what I was trying to communicate in just 500 words. She writes that

Brian T. Schwartz (”Policies cripple market”) sure is a funny guy for a medical industry lobbyist. He says “health care is so expensive because patients pay so little for it” and calls premiums too cheap.

Well, one correct assertion out of three ain’t bad. I’ll address the other two. So far as I can tell, I’m no medical industry lobbyist. And I’m pretty sure I didn’t write that premiums are “too cheap.” For example:

“costs are exploding for care covered by third parties - insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.”

and

“[T]he tax exemption for employer-paid insurance, mandated insurance benefits and Medicaid … have disfigured real insurance into expensive low-deductible plans that are equivalent to prepaid health care.”

She also misunderstood my critique of guaranteed issue for the business group of one.

Ms. Amick teaches 4th Grade at Aurora Quest Academy, “A Magnet School for Gifted and Talented Students.” (…) Her e-mail address is at the website above. Perhaps I’ll contact her and attempt a constructive dialog.

• Two comments on health care on Denver Post website
• Government controls violate rights, raise costs, cut access
• Politicians guilty for expensive insurance
• Government control bad for your health
• Compulsory Medical Insurance as Collective Punishment