An inaccurate comparison

Comparing broccoli to the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act [“How a green veggie put health law on critical list,” Close Up, News, June 14] is nonsense.

If thousands of people don’t eat broccoli, that’s their business — it doesn’t affect me. Broccoli farmers simply switch to another crop.

If they get sick, whether or not they eat broccoli, and they do not have health insurance, it does affect me.

My taxes probably rise because without insurance, they probably go to the emergency room for treatment, and my insurance premiums rise to cover the increased cost of the uninsured. The point of the individual mandate is to lower the price of health insurance premiums for all by spreading the cost over a larger pool of people.

— Jerry Richard, Seattle