Letter: Return to private insurance system

Do you still believe that health care should be designed and managed by politicians - i.e., the government? After the disastrous seven and a half years of the Affordable Care Act, from the catastrophic rollout to the final pullout of nearly every health insurance company desperate to stay afloat, how can you?

You don't have to be an actuary to figure out that the promise of immeasurable benefits and lower premiums was, and is, like denying gravity. It is a principle of insurance that the loss insured against must be fortuitous or accidental - not a certainty (like pre-existing conditions). How can an insurance company accurately price a product which has no limit on cost (like no lifetime caps)? Why should a person buy insurance covering risks they could never face (but mandated)? And how much competitive advantage can one company offer over another 'across state lines” when premiums are based on medical costs from state to state (community-rating)?

The actuarial science of designing risk-sharing contracts that are not only sound but fair can't happen in an environment where promises of everything to everybody is dictated by politicians seeking re-election.

Let's return to the sound, competitive private insurance system that served so well for the vast majority of responsible American workers for generations. If you want to cover the cost for everybody else, pay for it through taxes and call it what it is: welfare.

Jay Kacena

Marion