John Rhodes: Stop protecting the market

Regarding the March 22 news article “Insurance costs may rise for state workers”: Americans and North Carolinians are told that free markets, when left to regulate themselves, create competition, which then purportedly lowers price.

I have reached the conclusion that, on a national level, regardless of whether we continue with the ACA (the Democrat plan) or throw it out for the AHCA (the Republican plan), our elected officials are interested in nothing more than allowing the health care industry to continue on its merry way toward billions in collective net profit, personal or otherwise, while passing it off in the form of higher medical expenses and premiums, not to the state (heaven forbid!) but to the patient.

Patients are no more interested in being exploited by a free market that only results in higher and higher medical expenses and health care coverage than those protecting the state.

Isn’t it about time that our worthless politicians, left and right, start working for the majority of those who put them into office and stop protecting those in the marketplace?

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "John Rhodes: Stop protecting the market."