SUPPORT LUCKY-NESS.  Letter to the Editor, Billings Gazette.  (The following letter, I am told, is scheduled for print today, Sunday, March 23, 2014.)

I am standing at the pharmacy counter in a drugstore recently.  A young man comes to the counter to drop off several prescriptions, either one or both for his wife.  "Do you have insurance?" asks the druggist.  "No," is the reply.  I look down at the two quarters and a penny I hand to the cashier for my prescription.

I know I am lucky.  I have primary and secondary healthcare policies that come through the federal government.  If it weren't for that, I'd be in this young man's position -- paying full price for my medications, something I could ill afford.

I realize then that he could also get good healthcare coverage through the federal government -- with the Affordable Care Act.  If he would just access the website, www.healthcare.gov., he could examine possibilities, choose a plan, and explore subsidies.  Why not?  Why wouldn't a person want to pay less for medications?  Why wouldn't we as a country want all our citizens to have access to good health care at a reasonable price?  Why, in fact, would anyone try so hard (through repeal of Obamacare 50 times!) to obstruct this young man's efforts to provide good health care for his family?  Why aren't we as a country pulling together to do just the opposite and, in particular, help young people to build their own luck?  Why, indeed!