To the Editor:

Re “Under Health Law, Independent Practitioners in City Face Canceled Policies” (news article, Dec. 14):

The Affordable Care Act makes important repairs to our broken health care system. The problem is that it leaves insurance companies in charge — with high premiums, high deductibles and co-pays; too much control over which doctors or hospitals we can go to and what care they can provide; and high administrative costs.

The exchanges are complicated because the system requires means-testing to see who is eligible for Medicaid or subsidies, and then requires people to select from multiple plans.

We could cover everyone, provide better coverage and save billions through publicly sponsored, single-payer health coverage, like an improved version of Medicare for everyone — and no insurance companies.

Washington might not be ready to act, but individual states have long been the “laboratories of democracy.” New York can do better.