Ringelstetter letter: Raul Labrador
Regarding Rep. Raul Labrador’s April 3 guest opinion, as the old saying goes, “Any dumb mule can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one.”
The average cost of a mid-level insurance plan under the ACA went up 22 percent last year. Health care insurance has been going up for years. This is nothing new.
The ACA does have problems that need to be fixed. It has allowed sick people to enter the system after the fact. Also, the fines for not buying insurance are probably not high enough to force compliance. Both cause rates to go up.
Labrador comments that people should only have to buy the insurance they need. The problem is, you never know when or what might happen to you or your loved ones.
We buy insurance for our homes and our cars though we might not need it. Everyone should also have health insurance. Need it or not.
Sharing life’s risks across a large pool is what makes every type of insurance affordable. From Labrador’s guest opinion, I have to question his understanding of how insurance works. Either he doesn’t understand it or he is simply the equivalent of that mule mentioned above. Which is it?
Richard Ringelstetter, Boise
This story was originally published April 21, 2017 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Ringelstetter letter: Raul Labrador."