I don't know about you, but in my 10-year career so far, the amount of cash compensation I've earned is orders of magnitude higher than the actual liquid compensation I've received from equity actually becoming worth something. tl;dr I got lucky and won the startup lottery, but it didn't pay out nearly as much as the cash compensation I've earned.

Am I in the minority here? I doubt it.

They’re probably talking about RSUs at Big Tech, rather than startup options.

RSUs are nearly as liquid as cash. Health insurance is very much not.

RSUs are liquid after they vest. Health insurance vests pretty much right away