...ever seemed like a cool kids' club to which you never received the proper password and secret handshake, that's because it is.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. If anything, it's more entertaining this way.  And besides, that feeling of 'clubbiness' could be seen as one of the fringe benefits of the job, something that helps ease their qualms (many of them have very marketable degrees) about what they're passing up on in terms of salary and the like by becoming a professional writer.

I have no idea.  So, help educate me please? :)

A post over at the right-wing blog RedState claims that the actual number of unwillingly uninsured Americans is much lower.  The post doesn't include actual links to sources, so I have the suspicion this guy is fudging the numbers, just like he accuses the Democrats of doing.

So I figured I'd kick it to you guys -- moving beyond the "47 million" soundbite number...

...what's the real number?  How do we figure out what that number is?

And what about the problem of people being underinsured?  Last I checked, most people who go bankrupt for health-cost reasons *had* health insurance.

How can we better argue the progressive case for health care reform -- or even more fundamentally, the case that there's a problem to be resolved here -- and what statistics should we be using?

Another statistic I often hear mentioned is our rate of infant mortality -- but then, I've heard the counter-argument that our infant mortality rates are only high because we're advanced enough that we attempt to save long-shot chances that wouldn't even make it to term under other health-care systems.

And, oddly enough given the public debate, rates of satisfaction with our health care system among the general population are actually quite high compared to other nations.

In short - any health-care policy wonks here, who want to sort out these competing and contradictory claims for me?