Health coverage

Regarding “The Obama Era” (Page A16, Thursday), in reading the editorial you’d think those on Obamacare are the only ones in high-deductible health care plans. The last company I worked for doubled the cost of its lower deductible PPO plan to essentially force employees into either a high or very high deductible health plan. Admittedly, the higher deductible plan was sweetened with contributions to an Health Savings Account, but the increased employee cost was still significant.

It seems to me the problem is really the escalation in health care costs, exacerbated by passing the cost of the uninsured along to the insured.

The size of the lobbying efforts for private health care, health insurance and big pharma does not inspire optimism. It doesn’t help that the decision makers have Cadillac health care plans and the problem to them is academic (at best), or contribution-driven (at worst).