I read Dr. Jeffrey Barkin’s thoughtful proposal for holding insurance companies accountable, by banning them from reentering the Maine health care market for 20 years if they fail to meet certain standards (“Health insurance companies should pay a price for abandoning Maine,” Dec. 14). The goal is to protect against companies abandoning and reentering the state in response to “market adjustments,” i.e., by maximizing profits at the expense of the public via sharp increases in premiums.

The proposal is meant to prevent against the threat by companies of leaving the state altogether. I say let them go! Instead, spend the next 10 years transitioning from the current for-profit system to a combination of not-for-profit and state administration. We do not need insurance companies.

Several studies have found some 30% of the nation’s $4 trillion health care tab is waste, largely due to overhead costs such as eligibility determination and unchecked price controls. U.S. spending on health is twice that of other rich countries, for which we get the shortest life span and the highest infant mortality rate.

As for the idea that medical spending is not ideological or is politically neutral: $1 trillion has just been cut from federal medical spending to provide Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires deep tax cuts, thanks to GOP control of every branch of government. President Trump and the GOP Senate want to eliminate them altogether. They offer no alternatives. In the end it’s all about politics and values. The state should flex its muscle and tell insurance companies to step aside.

Michael Petit
Portland