I can't tell you how many times I've bumped into seniors from Florida sitting in the waiting rooms here in the Northeast because they couldn't get an appointment down in Florida.
1,281 Americans were polled. Knowing how polls can be manipulated I wouldn't put too much stock in the result of this one. I seriously doubt that an "overwhelming majority" of Americans agree on anything, let alone raising taxes. This is political bias at it's best. That said, I do believe we need a national healthcare system for those at the lower income levels. Cutting government spending will pay for that. Fat chance of that happening, hence no national healthcare will be forthcoming.
Personally, I think universal health care is a great idea. I had it in the UK for a few years and it was fine. If you want private health care then go pay for it as you do now. I don't think anyone else would mind.
Why should I have to pay 60% taxes when I can pay 30% or less and why should I only earn .000001% on my social security dollars when I can earn 0.1%? Make social security private. Knowledge and education and prevention are the keys. If we were smarter, we would be healthier and wealthier. God helps those who help themselves.
I did internal auditing in at the european offices of American companies. I can't tell you how many top people were sitting around playing video games right in front of us! They know their jobs are secured regardless. Just look at when France tried to bring in pay for performance into their system. Their were riots in the streets. Our goverment workers here in the US are the same. Why do they all want to come over here and study and work? answer = it's challenging and not status quo.
I don't know, do you really think universal health care in the US will cause your taxes to rise to 60%? I don't think you understand the societal purpose of any government program be it social security, welfare, medicare, public universities, libraries, roads, dams, research, etc... if you are concerned about "your" returns. Since you benefit from them every day you might step back and think about it a bit. Having said that, due to political interference government is clearly not as efficient or unbiased as it could be...