Let market determine insurance costs

The Gazette's June 20 article concerning changes in the rules for health insurance is headlined, 'Trump administration puts skimpy health plans in place.”

Skimpy is described by Webster variously as 'inadequate, insufficient and miserly.” On the same day, the Wall Street Journal notes that the Congressional Budget Office says the new plan will attract 4 million Americans, many of which are uninsured. This happens because young and healthy Americans will have the freedom to buy the insurance they think they need instead of paying about two and a half times that figure through the ACA, forcing them to finance the insurance of older citizens.

If indeed the method of forcing younger Americans to pay the health insurance cost of others is valid, perhaps the government should think of implementing similar mandates for life insurance - requiring premiums be charged at the same rate - regardless of age or pre-existing health problems. Maybe it would be better to let the free market - instead of government mandates and restrictions - determine the cost of insurance.

Maybe, by eliminating government dictates, the 'skimpy” plans will work better to encourage young people to decide to buy health insurance.

Dick Roggensack

Waukon