I've diaried in the past about my next-door neighbor, a very nice guy with whom I disagree politically. He also likes to invite me by to "get into it" with his family members, who are both generally conservative and often "informed" by the NY Post/Faux News/Hannity world.
The other day, he invited me by and asked me about my views on the current health care debate. (As it happened, I walked in with my own lunch guest, a Soviet emigre, who had some interesting reactions when my friend's family member described President Obama as a "Socialist," but I digress. grin) We talked for awhile, and I pointed out that while doctors make money by providing care, for-profit health insurance companies make money by refusing treatment. Then, I sprung my trap.
I suspect many of you have done this as well, but if you haven't, go up to your favorite possibly reasonable opponent of a public option for health care reform, and ask him/her the following simple question that I posed to my friend:
If you lost your family's health coverage from work, what would you do?
I've asked it many times, of many people, and never gotten even a partial answer from most of them. My neighbor, to his credit, stopped, fell silent, thought for a bit and then finally said, "Well, I guess I'd do what you did when you lost your job [I'd told that story earlier]: apply for New York State's plan."
And there it is. The only possible answer reasonable people can give. The need for a public option, or at least an affordable choice not driven by profit, because reasonable people understand that for-profit insurance is simply inaffordable if it's even available.
Go ahead, try it on someone who at least understands what private coverage actually costs. Someone with a family, someone who is willing to give an honest answer. At best, you might change some minds. At worst, you might cause them to look at the talking points spewing out from Murdochland with a bit of skepticism, or at least stop spewing them in your direction. {ProfJonathan}