Mandating healthcare

Re “Not so fast on the mandates,” Opinion, March 24

Tinkering with private health insurance carriers via private insurance mandates will simply secure the golden parachutes of those insurance CEO’s while continuing to inflict pain and suffering on the American people. Nothing less than universal healthcare for all citizens will fix the problem. The high costs of premiums now paid by individuals and employers will be easily offset by a different tax structure. That is, while we will all pay a higher tax overall to achieve universal healthcare, the tax that covers the program will be much smaller than the costs of current premiums.

There is also an army of ready-to-work, experienced paper shufflers and mid-level executives who can administer the program as government employees. The top insurance executives who lose their jobs will have to find a way to make ends meet on whatever they saved from their multimillion-dollar salaries.

David Ohman

Irvine

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Karl Manheim and Jamie Court argue that health insurance “mandates” are unconstitutional. Rubbish. First, the writers set up a straw man by poorly describing the two Democratic candidates’ healthcare proposals, and then they knock it down. People would not be mandated to contract with private healthcare insurers or providers; they would only be mandated to have health insurance. This is only saying they are mandated to be able to prove they can pay for their medical care before they get sick. The government has an ample interest in preventing people from demanding health services at a cost to the rest of us.

The proposals by Sen. Barack Obama (only for children) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (for everyone) would require simply that people be able to prove they have health insurance, which they can provide for themselves by contracting with private companies or use the service provided by the government. They are not “mandated” to contract with private companies that can jack up prices.

Philip Shaw

Mill Valley, Calif.