Dear Liz: In response to your response to the retired couple about healthcare costs. I wish everyone else could be informed about this. Healthcare costs in the individual market before the ACA were anything but affordable. I had to quit my job because my husband got ill in 2000. I was healthy and was paying at first $350 a month. Every couple of years it went up because I entered a new age bracket. I had to drop my coverage when premiums went to $800. And that was for a junk policy. I was hit by a car and I realized what it didn’t cover. I almost went bankrupt, but was able to sue my own car insurance company so that I wouldn’t lose my house. I finally was able to get on Medicare when I turned 65.

Answer: Thank you for mentioning the issue of “junk” policies. Some of the cheaper alternatives to ACA policies offer far less coverage, something buyers may not discover until it’s too late. Any insurance policy worth the name should cover the kinds of catastrophically high expenses that could otherwise wipe out a retirement fund or lead to bankruptcy.