USA TODAY

Letter to the editor:

House Speaker Paul Ryan got to the heart of the matter in his PowerPoint presentation about the Affordable Care Act. The mandate ensures that the healthy (far greater in number) do indeed pay for the care of the sick (far lesser in number) as evidenced by the red and blue areas in his pie chart. But that is also the nature of private insurance plans.

Insurance companies do not just insure high-risk people. They depend on a pool of high- and low-risk people so that risk is managed and carriers can make a profit. Ryan’s plan, the American Health Care Act, does not offer more choice, better plans and smaller premiums.

By making participation voluntary, insurers will have smaller pools of subscribers and have to charge higher premiums and offer less coverage. And the funding for block grants and high risk pools proposed in Ryan’s plan will not be enough to fund care for the poor and needy.

Welcome back to the age of overcrowded emergency rooms!

George Magakis; Norristown, Pa.

Policing the USA

Letter to the editor:

In the recently proposed legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act, Ryan’s American Health Care Act, the availability of health insurance for those with pre-existing conditions may be safeguarded but at what premium level?

Profit-driven insurance companies will justify exorbitant premiums in the individual market because the overall insurance pool will skew sharply toward those with more serious and expensive health needs.

Mandating that people buy insurance is the only way to guarantee that those with preexisting conditions can get affordable health care insurance.

Mary Warren; Wheaton, Ill.