This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Re Oct. 15 letter from John Watson, "Taxpayers are paying health-care subsidies": Watson asks who is picking up the tab for the family of five who purchased health insurance for $850 a month with a subsidy of $727 from the government. He has a valid point.
How many average families could afford an $850 health insurance premium? Those families and individuals that are fortunate enough to have workplace insurance or Medicare are insulated from the true cost of health insurance.
If everyone had to purchase insurance on the open market as this family did, just maybe the real elephant in the room, the prohibitive cost of health care, might get some attention from everyone, including our elected representatives.
John White
Salt Lake City