Michael McLane, in his letter, “Higher premiums for health insurance is only fair,” (June 23) argues that charging everyone the same for their premiums (for a given policy) overcharges those who are healthy and is therefore discriminatory. As an example, he notes that “Commercial fishermen pay more for accident insurance than do school teachers, whose occupation entails less risk….” 

But this is a false analogy. Fishermen and teachers have taken up their trades by choice, whereas if one has been born with sickle cell anemia, type 1 diabetes, heart arrhythmia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or any number of other pre-existing conditions, there is, for the moment, no cure, and no avoiding higher medical costs. 

Perhaps McLane is referring to conditions arising from known, unhealthy behaviors, in which case he has a stronger, if not ironclad, argument. I hope so, because otherwise his message for those less fortunate than he is, “Tough luck.” 

Al Crossley

Waterford