Nonprofit insurance good for our health
It’s time to hold our elected officials accountable, and have health care for all, a reader writes. Credit: iStock
While I appreciate the letter “Health care firms should spend wisely” [Opinion, Dec. 17], the reader did not hit on the relevant point. The writer points out correctly that health insurance companies should spend more on their customers’ needs and less on CEO perks. But that still misses the real problem.
Public companies like UnitedHealthcare are responsible to their shareholders, not to their customers. The CEO’s job is to increase shareholder value. That’s why companies spend money on stock buybacks — to increase their share’s price.
The solution is the Medicare for All Act and the NY Health Act. Nonprofit insurance would not be interested in shareholder value. Their goal would be to spend as much as possible to take care of their customers.
Democrats, who often seem to let Republicans control the conversation, have a golden opportunity to grab this issue now and make nonprofit health care a major issue. Both acts would save money and lives.
It’s time to hold our elected officials in Washington and Albany accountable, and pressure them to end our national health care nightmare and, like every other industrialized nation, have health care for all.
— Eric Gemunder, Huntington Station
A reader seems to blame the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the company and him, too. The writer cites corporate practices that deny medical claims while generously compensating its executives as the reason. This deplorable viewpoint validates the sentiments of supporters of Luigi Mangione, the indicted suspect, who, according to the writer, “are applauding” this criminal act and view him as a “folk hero of sorts.”
About 4,200 civilian Nassau employees will lose Excelsior health plan coverage Jan. 1 but it is uncertain how this will affect the county budget, or workers' costs. Credit: iStock
— Josh Paul, Islip Terrace
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