I’m writing in reference to Robert Seeber’s angry response to professor Jennifer Wriggins’ March 18 column on the Affordable Care Act.

He opines that in comparing mandatory health insurance to mandatory auto insurance, and mandatory use in Portland of blue bags for non-recyclables, Wriggins presents “juxtapositions” that are “unpersuasive at best.”

Gee, I didn’t think they were “juxtapositions,” but rather clever analogies to help us understand that now, as in the past, when individual solutions to intractable social problems cannot be found, we must find innovative community solutions that will do the job.

Curiously, Seeber insists that mandatory automobile insurance is not an appropriate analogy to mandatory health insurance — because you can always choose not to drive a car! I guess the public transportation available in Windham trumps anything we have in Portland, because in Portland, particularly if you have a family, having access to a car is not a choice but a necessity.

Do we need to do anything about our health care system? Is the ACA a ruinous imposition on a working health care delivery system, as some suggest?

In the United States, we have the highest infant mortality rate in the Western world and one of the lowest life expectancy rates; one person in six does not have access to health insurance, and more than 60 percent of people who file for bankruptcy are there because of medical expenses (and many of them had health insurance). Yet in the U.S., we spend 17 percent of the gross domestic product on health care! Houston, we have a problem!

The reality is that now in the U.S., only the rich have real health care security, and action must be taken before this situation deteriorates further.