Had a talk with a Right Wing friend today about Obama Care.....

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. "Why does everyone hate it?"

Because they've been told it's another expensive social program that benefits the unworthy poor at the expense of the worthy taxpayer.

And if you try to explain that it will make health insurance available to 30 million people who don't have it and who have been getting sick and sometimes dying because they couldn't get medical care, you will be farting in a whirlwind, because the GOPers and 'baggers have no compassion. They care only about these things: Making sure Obama's signature legislation is repealed, thereby damaging his reelection chances, and making sure no undeserving (read: minority) people get any help.

The explanation has to be something like the OP used: Make it about them. And make it about their favorite thing, "personal responsibility." So here's the argument:

When people can't afford to go to a doctor because they have no insurance, they don't go unless/until they are really, really sick and somebody drags them to an emergency room. They will get treatment there - very expensive treatment - but they won't be able to pay for it (even though they will be billed for it, since, contrary to common belief, ER treatment isn't free). So who does pay for it, Mr. GOPer? You do, that's who. You pay for it because your own health insurance premium will go up, and because your taxes help fund hospitals.

Also, that person who is now very sick is unable to work (maybe he'll die). So he won't be paying any taxes on his wages unless/until he recovers. In the meantime he might lose his job and have to go on unemployment (costing you more money in taxes). He and his family might have to go on public assistance (which you pay for); his wife might have to quit her job to stay home and look after him while he recovers, so she won't be paying taxes, either. The kids might have to drop out of college, damaging their eventual chances of getting good jobs and paying taxes. If the sick person has a communicable disease that he'd probably been spreading around until he got dragged to the ER, maybe you or your kids will get that disease.

But let's say that instead, the person who has had no insurance (maybe because his employer doesn't offer it, or he's self-employed and can't get it or has a pre-existing condition that makes him uninsurable) now can get coverage. He has to have it, and has to pay for it, but now he can afford it. So now he can get regular physicals to prevent serious conditions from developing. If he gets sick he can go to a doctor or a hospital before his treatment gets really expensive, and his insurance will pay the doctor or the hospital so you don't have to. And when everyone has health insurance, a lot more people will seek health care - meaning more jobs for doctors, nurses, orderlies, hospital administrators, pharmacists, clinic employees, and more -- all kinds of good health-care-related jobs that didn't exist before and that will result in more taxpayers. More jobs, less of a tax burden on the rest of us.

How can you not like this, Mr. GOPer? It helps you.