Insurers ahead

Re “State fines 2 health plans over canceled coverage,” July 18

How does the state’s fining Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and other insurance companies on the order of about $6,000 per dropped policyholder not leave the insurers way ahead? They undoubtedly avoided paying many times greater sums in medical bills and now are obliged only to permit these undesirables to again soil their risk pool.

When will we realize that the private insurance model is only tenable when the sick are denied access to it? Encouraged by this “penalty,” Blue Shield and the others will find new schemes to preserve their balance sheets at the expense of consumers. They have no choice.

Gerald Gollin

Redlands