Madam, - Terms such as "community rating" and "risk equalisation" mask the fact that the debate about health insurance is a cultural, not a technical, one.
It is possible to run a moderately profitable business and safeguard affordability for the sick and elderly, but it is not possible to reconcile social responsibility with maximum profitability. We can have one or the other, but not both.
As for car insurance, young drivers have many ways to raise money that are not open to the sick and elderly. They also have the luxury of looking forward to middle age and lower premiums.
Youth and profit appear to be the highest ideals of our society. In the present climate, business and politics cannot be expected to pay heed to anything else. It is disappointing that mainstream religious leaders are not noticeably promoting any alternative perspective, confining themselves instead to hair-splitting about sexual morality or uttering bland pieties about multiculturalism.
The consequences of applying economic and materialist dogma without reference to values such as Christian charity, human empathy or common sense have been made clear by the rise and fall of the Soviet dystopia. The purist application of the laws of supply and demand is another route to the same destination. - Yours, etc,
CHARLES BAGWELL, Millbrook, Straffan, Co Kildare.