From the Mailbox (Gwen Moritz Editor's Note)

I have buckets of sympathy for John Worthen, the managing editor of the Pine Bluff Commercial, (see Kyle Massey’s Outtakes column, Newspaper Corrections In a Time of Contraction.) I’ve dealt with my share of angry readers over the decades. But most of my interaction with readers these days is a pleasure because I enjoy learning how people’s minds work. I recently shared on Twitter a link to a MarketWatch article headlined, “Obamacare helped make a 50% dent in personal bankruptcies.” My accompanying comment: “Having insurance isn’t just a good thing for the insured and their health care providers.” Twitter is a lousy medium for complex subjects, but I thought my point was obvious: Bankruptcies caused by overwhelming medical bills force other creditors to subsidize the cost of health care. A Twitter user going by the name CedaRiver responded: “So a portion of my insurance cost should be used to pay the creditors of other people who would otherwise declare bankruptcy?” CedaRiver, I deduced, doesn’t understand how insurance works. My response: “If you are lucky enough not to get sick in a coverage period, most of your insurance cost goes to pay the bills of other people.” Resentment that someone else might get more benefit from insurance seems to be widespread these days; it seems to be the basis of the health care bill that squeaked through the U.S. House of Representatives recently. (Oh, dear. I might...
Source: Arkansas Business - Health Care - Category: American Health Source Type: news