More people have insurance, they just can't afford to use it, and other letters

Regarding the article “Uninsured rate drops, but medical expenses still drag millions into poverty," this should not be about health insurance but healthcare coverage. So what if only 9.1% of the population isn't covered by health insurance? The reason the level is low is that the federal government put a gun to the heads of middle- and low-income people and threatened them with a tax if they didn't have insurance. So now they have “insurance” but the premiums are killing them and the deductibles are so high they can't use their coverage. This should be about bending the healthcare cost curve and providing affordable healthcare to people who truly need it. The current makeup of the ACA does not do this.

Thomas Corry

Health Data Insights and Analytics

Midlothian, Va.

Regarding the recent article “What Paul Ryan's healthcare proposals look like from Janesville," tweaks to the Affordable Care Act should be considered by whoever wins the presidency in November—not a major overhaul or wholesale repeal and replace. As an experienced healthcare professional who recently went through the process of enrolling in an exchange plan—and found it quite difficult—I know there's plenty of room for improvement. I would hope that whoever occupies the White House next year will take the lead in setting up a bipartisan committee to look at what's working with the ACA and what's not—and figure out the best ways to improve the law.

Anne Llewellyn

Plantation, Fla.

Regarding the recent online article “AMA, consumers urge N.Y. regulators to reject Anthem-Cigna merger:" If so many seem to see that a merger between big insurance companies is bad for competition, why can't we see the same problems in pushing so many independent medical practices into big hospital settings as equally detrimental to competition—and just as effectively bad for patients?

Dr. Tammie Wiley