President Obama made the right decision Wednesday to invite Republican and Democratic congressional leaders to the White House to try and bring an end to the shutdown of many government services. This mess never should have happened in the first place.

Blame some House Republicans for using the shutdown tactic in order to delay — or, what they really want, to kill — the Affordable Health Care Act. Their actions are a disservice to the American public.

Like it or hate it, the act meets a need too long ignored in our country – giving people, especially poor people, access to health care when they are sick or injured. Yes, we know that those without access to their own physician can show up at a hospital emergency room and have their condition stabilized. But that’s a lousy – and expensive – way to deliver health care.

Perhaps these House Republicans don’t care about this. After all, they have a health care plan and the government — that means taxpayers — pays for most of the premiums. Or maybe they feel that the poor should have better managed their minimum-wage income to pay for that expensive diagnostic test that might find and cure a terminal cancer in time.

Will House Republicans next target Medicare? How about Social Security? After all, shouldn’t everyone be managing their stock portfolios and million-dollar pay to take care of these future needs? Why should taxpayers be dinged to keep older Americans healthy or from being destitute in their final years?

The Affordable Health Care Act will be an added expense for many Americans. But the good it does goes beyond mere dollars and cents.

Access to health care may not seem like a big deal — until you have a medical condition that is not only is beyond your financial means, but also precludes you from even getting it because of a pre-existing condition.

Thankfully, those days are coming to an end. And so, too, should the unseemly conduct of a few House Republicans.

– Craig Groshart, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter