Re: “Affordability isn’t a hoax. It’s not a crisis for most, either” (Dec. 16, Opinion):
I used to be baffled to learn Allison Schrager’s column, which didn’t include any point out in anyway of skyrocketing well being care prices. How about these tens of millions who’re about to see a doubling of their insurance coverage premiums as a result of dumping of the subsidies that made them inexpensive?
And I’m very uninterested in seeing the outdated argument that youngster care is a short lived value for households (the common annual value within the Seattle space is $19,200 per youngster). What occurs when these over 5 want summer season camp — a minimum of until they’re 12 — through the ridiculously lengthy U.S. summer season break? (For comparability, the UK has a 6-week summer season break.)
As reported in The Seattle Instances (“Seattle-area pricey youngster care strains household budgets throughout summer season break,” June 20, Enterprise), in King County “extra inexpensive applications vary from $400 to $700 per week.” Taking the conservative determine of $500 per week, for the common two-child household that’s years of paying $10,000 per summer season, which nobody ever consists of in these value estimates.
And each single kind of insurance coverage, from skilled legal responsibility, to accommodate, automobile and long-term care, can also be in unregulated, unremitting ascendancy to the sky.
Jacqueline Houston, Seattle
