I remember the conversation, but not the raised voices. I think this conversation was before passage of the ACA. My feelings regarding healthcare haven't much changed, and I think have been strongly influenced by a father than needed a lot of it, and working in the research side of the system. I'm not sure how successful the ACA will be from the outset, but I am at least optimistic that change has come to the system. It is so very broken, and so many people have suffered needlessly. IMO there is plenty of room for the feelings behind your previous stance. Humans abuse systems, public and private. It's what they do. The good thing is that some systems are less prone to abuse by design. However, to get there, we need everyone working towards the goal of building the best system we can. It's a sad state of affairs that US politics are so divided, that both sides fight over ideological grounds rather than crafting systems influenced by them. I've made a similar journey from other places to this one, probably since we've had that conversation. I strongly believe that there is truth here. We need to communicate with each other. Ideals feel great when they are affirmed, but living like that is nonsense. The world we want is not the world that is, or the world that will be. But, if we listen to one another, we will understand why that is ok, and most importantly, we will be able to change the world into one that neither of us chose, but both of us can see as an improvement. I wouldn't say that you were wrong. I would say that you aren't worried about being right. Neither of us was right. But, the more we talk about this, the better we both can understand what is, and the more likely what will be will be an improvement. I hope this is a lesson that US politics is teaching the upcoming generation. Thanks for writing this, Steve.The old me used to think "I work hard and they don't, so I deserve something for all of my work". The new me realizes there's a lot more nuance to the story. There's a lot more to people's stories.