Who do the opponents of the Affordable Care Act think pays for the uninsured? We do. Why so expensive? Because we are paying for the uninsured through higher premiums and exorbitant drug/care costs at hospitals and doctors offices and outrageous CEO salaries/compensation packages that don’t make sense.

See what pops up when doing an Internet search for “insurance company CEO salaries” or “drug company CEO salaries.”

Requiring the purchase of insurance will drive costs down. Contributing to a small share of the cost of health care makes sense. Uninsured people who frequent the emergency room for routine/acute care drive up costs. They can’t be turned away.

Mandatory insurance, preventative care and screenings, and a cap on costs for catastrophic health care events should drive down costs. Making sure insurance companies don’t deny coverage to a person with a pre-existing condition? This is not more government, it’s common sense.

Everyone has a right to affordable health care, and a responsibility to contribute to that health care by buying insurance and practicing healthy lifestyles. If a national health plan doesn’t cover everyone, then it will be akin to trying to fill a sieve with water.

Those who cannot afford it will be covered by Medicare/Medicaid, which we are taxed for anyway. If insurance companies lose money, then they should lower salaries of upper-echelon employees. Right now health is tied to wealth, and wealth has been squeezed out of the middle class and accumulated by the one-percenters.

Thanks Justice John Roberts the Supreme Court — this from a Republican sick of partisan politics and looking for common-sense decisions that are not partisan, but are based on what is right for the country.

Daryl Ortiz-Mashke

Gardiner