By Tribune-Review

Published: Monday, February 11, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Updated: Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Not just SCHIP

The editorial “The fallacy of SCHIP: It's not ‘insurance'” (Feb. 5 and TribLIVE.com) is certainly correct that the government program SCHIP is not “insurance” for children. But for many years, most health insurance has not been insurance.

When people provided for their own routine medical expenses, true insurance was an affordable way to provide for unexpected major illness or accidents. When it became a “right” to have others pay the cost of every dollar of medical care — with a few token copayments at best — it became a ruinous expense for insurance companies, employers and, eventually, the government. That bankrupts all participants and is gradually being replaced by rationing and other methods of pretending to pay the bills.

Richard E. Ralston

Newport Beach, Calif.

The writer is executive director of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine (afcm.org).

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