Ways to Fix the Health Insurance Debacle

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Credit…Sasha Arutyunova for The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “UnitedHealth Group C.E.O.: The Health Care System Is Flawed. Let’s Fix It,” by Andrew Witty (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, Dec. 13):

A recent Gallup poll shows Americans’ satisfaction with health care access, costs and coverage at an all-time low since polling began in 2000. Not surprising. Corporate health insurers have had free rein over our health care system, and it continues to deteriorate.

Yes, as Mr. Witty says, the killing of Brian Thompson, UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, was unconscionable. So are the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, the increased morbidity of millions more and the medical debt that 41 percent of Americans face.

UnitedHealth “succeeds” by impeding health care access, denying coverage and driving up costs. Mr. Witty knows that all too well. That’s how UnitedHealth maximizes profits.

If Mr. Witty really supports a health care system that works better for everyone, he should advocate Medicare for all — guaranteed affordable coverage — instead of blocking efforts for a government-administered system.

Diane Archer
New York
The writer is the president of Just Care USA and the founder and former president of the Medicare Rights Center.

To the Editor:

My personal experience as a patient advocate differs greatly from Andrew Witty’s presentation that the insurance industry is brimming with benevolent altruism.