What I'm hearing amongst my conservative friends is that most people who don't have health insurance (and somewhere there have to be talking points about this because it's the exact. same. thing.) choose to spend their money on better cell phones, flat screen tv's, and other nonsense they don't "need." (I would argue that for anything but a minimum wage/manual labor job, cells are a neccesity).

They really have never heard of someone being denied coverage, losing their jobs and COBRA lapsing (or not being able to afford it at all) or the underinsured.

Or they pretend they've never heard of it.

I am watching (listening) to this Frontline right now. [link]

(I would argue that for anything but a minimum wage/manual labor job, cells are a neccesity).

I certainly hope not.

I don't have health insurance. I haven't for almost 2 years. I'm a contractor, I don't get benefits, and on my hourly wage in this city's cost-of-living market I cannot afford independent health care coverage.

Right-wingers are to be ridiculed in this argument.

My sister, a solid Republican, hasn't had health insurance in years. This is one of the reasons she's put off getting her first mammogram. She's been remarkably quiet about the dangers of a public health care option.

I want a complete deadpan satire skit taking all this craziness being suggested as truth and coming out in favor of it. Death panels? you betcha

Watch last night's Daily Show--they had on a panel made up of John Oliver, Samantha Bee, and Aasif Mandvi, all discussing which form of death panel was best: universal death panels, free market death panels, or crazy-ass death panels . Oh, and Aasif put a curse on white people.

I certainly hope not.

There may be exceptions, but for the most part, bosses expect to be able to get in touch with you whenever.

Hell, my husband works in a bar and has a work cell, and if his boss can't get him on that, she calls me.

As a point of reference, how much does private health insurance cost per month if you're trying to get it on your own?

I can't say I've done a study, but from what little I've seen, it seems that, if you aren't getting in through your employer or some other group policy, any decent policy is probably going to run at least a good $1,000.00 a month. Is that accurate (recognizing that cost can vary based on, for example, age)?

bosses expect to be able to get in touch with you whenever.

Then the company needs to pay for the phone.

ETA: Which is not to say that I disagree with your premise that in this day and age, at least in the SF Bay Area, you're expected to have an electronic leash.

As a point of reference, how much does private health insurance cost per month if you're trying to get it on your own?

My mom was paying $1500 a month at one point. I think when I was looking it was more in the $500 a month range.

My conservative twin sister always takes the anecdotal argument using a friend of ours as an example. He has had pancreatic cancer for about seven years now. He's had top-notch care, including trips to the Mayo clinic. He's retired but is still on his company's sponsored health care insurance. My sister argues that he would not have survived this long in Canada, France or England because of their socialized health care systems.

I argue that, gee, it's nice for this ONE GUY to have the luck to have such a generous, employer paid (and government subsidized) insurance plan but what happens when his retirement health benefits run out? What if he hits his lifetime cap for coverage? He's not going to be able to get private insurance because he's got cancer. Oh, that's right, he'll shift to Medicaid! In the mean time, hundreds of thousands of children in this country end up in ER for their primary healthcare and have never seen a dentist, even though their parents work hard and pay taxes.