Uninsured taking a chance with his health — and our pocketbooks

Congratulations to Doug Mainwaring for having saved $100,000 in health care costs by opting to "self insure" and for being in a position to spend that amount in the future ("Health reform unfair to self-insured businessman," Jan. 18). I am sure that will be a great comfort to the millions of working stiffs in this country who earn half that much or less each year.

More to the point, Mr. Mainwaring's argument suffers from the classic economic fallacy, "past performance predicts future performance."

Let's examine some alternative and all too common scenarios. Despite being in excellent physical shape, Mr. Mainwaring falls from his bicycle, suffers a head and back injury leading to paraplegia or even quadriplegia, leaving him paralyzed and unable to work; or he develops cancer requiring chemotherapy and/or major surgery (yes, healthy men in their 40s and 50s do get cancer for no apparent reason). That $100,000 will be gone in a flash.

And guess what? Mr. Mainwaring (or his caretaker) will present himself to his state Medicaid office for payment of his recurring health care costs, which may exceed $1 million over his lifetime. And I, along with his friends in the Tea Party Patriots and those working stiffs, will pay for it. I really do hope that Mr. Mainwaring's spinach and collard greens diet protects him from catastrophic medical misfortunes, for both his sake and my own.

B. Krueger, Ellicott City