Good points and the Paris Hilton comment cracked me up!

I don't agree about buying better healthcare, though.  When I was stationed in the UK, anyone who could bought better healthcare than the National Health system offered.  I did use the NH a couple of times and it was pretty good, about the same as I got from the US military.  I also had occaission to use private healthcare in the UK and it worked better, just like private healthcare in the States.  Isn't it like buying a house or a car or even a meal?  I mean you have choice and sometimes cheap and easy is fine.  Other times, you want the best you can afford.  I don't buy an expensive steak dinner every time I want to eat because I cannot afford it, not because I do not love steak.   And, if I and everyone else ate an expensive steak dinner for every meal, there would not be enough for any of us.  Realistically, healthcare works the same way.  There is a basic standard that is met.  But, if you can afford a little better, why not?  If you have a heart operation in a very fancy hospital it doesn't stop me from having a broken arm set at a public clinic. 

Jimmy Coalminer may never earn as much as Paris and I know that I never will.  But, I don't have to have as much as her to be content.  (Besides, no vagina to flash! )

Maybe it comes down to being able to say, "I have enough." 

Leo: I like you! You know how to disagree without being disagreeable.

NHS and taxation and a leveling ground.  I always like playing on a level field.  You have to pay your dues in whatever system you are part of.

Let me clarify the cheap and easy:  Not saying that NHS is either.  I am saying that sometimes you might be willing to put up with the negative points of a system to save some money and sometimes you are not.

Surprised at the better level of care issue.  Lots of folks from Canada, not one of the countries we've mentioned but the do have an NHS, come to the USA for surgical procedures they cannot get or will not wait for in Canada.  Of course, we like to buy our prescriptions there if we can because they are cheaper.  Folks do like to vote with their pocketbooks.

I've spent my unfair share of time in the doc's too.  Confession: I had a back operation in one of our VA hospitals.  They did a great job and I went from crippled to walking in one day!  I guess that is close to an NHS solution.  Follow up care was not so hot though.  I wish I had had insurance to cover that.  Benefit of private insurance.

You are quite right. Canada is not regarded as a good universal health care system, as the waiting times for necessary procedures can be too long (which is the primary reason Canadians go to the US).  The WHO ranks France as the best, and the UK's NHS is also ranked quite highly.

But basically, universal health care is a matter of principle which needs to be understood and agreed. The actual modus operandi can vary a lot, and no one system needs to be slavishly copied. 

I really fail to understand what the whole fuss is about as far as universal healthcare and American aversion to it go. First of all you live in the largest welfare society ever in the history of mankind. The problem is that the welfare in question is not the welfare of the people but the welfare of the corporations. Just in 2006 the federal government spent 92 billion bucks in subsidies to corporations and other businesses. That I am sure is more than what it would cost to provide each and every American citizen with a decent level of healthcare.

Perhaps what you need is something similar to the system we are trying to set up here in Turkey. The new system that is going into effect (the transition will take a few years) insures that everyone, regardless of income or wealth is entitled to a minimum level of healthcare. Those that can afford to can go to private health providers and pay the difference out of their own pockets, or can buy supplemental insurance that accords them private health care. In our system there are two types of hospitals. Public hospitals must provide healthcare free of charge to patients (with the state picking up the tab for treatments) and private hospitals if they so choose can also participate in this system. Those private hospitals that do not choose to participate in the system can still continue to provide healthcare as long as they finance their own operations in any way they see fit (ie. without government help). In this system we 1. have more choice as to which healthcare provider we go to, as most private hospitals are participating because this way they have a guaranteed cashflow, 2. we have better quality healthcare because the providers, be it public or private sectori are competing for customers (in healthcare this is only possible through service quality) and 3. we still have the option of balking at what the government provides and purchasing our own healthcare.

Depending on how you look at it public transportation, or even government funding of infrastructure such as roads and bridges is a form of socialism. I just don't get the Americans sometimes.....