Re “The Pitfalls of the Public Option” (Economic View, June 28), in which N. Gregory Mankiw favored a “lightly regulated” private insurance system over one where a public option is included:
Would the system he advocates include a requirement that private insurers accept all applicants? As long as private insurers are allowed to pick whom they insure, there can be no universal health care system.
Only by spreading the health care burden can such a system exist. The basic question is whether we, as a society, want universal care.
Tom Miller
Oakland, Calif., June 29