How insurance works

Was listening to Fox News Sunday when Karl Rove stated that Obamacare was being so unfair to younger people by making them subsidize our older, sicker population. Someone has already written about Paul Ryan’s using charts showing how younger people are paying to subsidize a small group of sick people.

I find it astonishing and frightening that we have people crafting a healthcare plan for America without having even a basic concept of how insurance works. I wonder if they have ever been in an employer- sponsored health care plan. In this plan did anyone pick out the kind of coverage they wanted? No. In the plan I am covered under, there are three options— high, middle and standard coverage. In each option everyone has the same coverage and pays the same payment in that option. The only difference is the amount of co- pays and deductibles.

Insurance is a risk pool. Not everyone will be sick at the same time. That is what brings down the price of insurance. All of the older ( maybe even sicker) people in the plan paid to subsidize the older and maybe sicker people when they were young. Of course, no one has to take out a plan, but the more who do, the lower everyone’s payment will be. If insurance didn’t work this way, we would just be paying for what we consume, and no one could do this, except maybe our legislators.

A rule in insurance is the less money you have, the more insurance you need. A lot of young and older people do not have large amounts of money in the bank. If you do, you can afford the larger deductibles and co- pays.

The Affordable Care Act was attempting to achieve this goal. Cost- savings estimates were based on everyone having insurance, and since they did not, they could not be achieved. In a democracy it is hard to force people to do something even if it is for their own good. SALLY J. MAYS

Roland