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.

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

I would certainly hope if that actually were the case, they would pay for the phone.

Of course, my Big Boss doesn't even have a cell phone, so I'm pretty sure that will never become a requirement.

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

Depends.

Then the company needs to pay for the phone.

The company should pay for the phone. Mostly, from what I have seen though, boss gets frustrated-> work environment suffers -> when cuts have to be made, person who boss can't reach at a moment's notice is the first to go.

StuntHusband - Is Freelancers Union available where you are? I admittedly am suggesting somethign I know little about. I just know that they offer health coverage options to freelancers.