Universal healthcare, run by the government and paid by taxes is almost the worst system anyone can think of. The only thing worse is what we have now in the US.
My wife is a pediatric surgeon... regarding an elective procedure on a Mexican child, wife said to the mother, "It's not urgent... you could have this done in Mexico". The mother replied, "In Mexico it wouldn't be free"...
calif. the plan was 300-400/month from what i recall. of course the price depends on your age and how good the plan is so it may not mean much to you that it's 300-400.
i really question how much the "insurance" cost factor in health care is. years ago i was with an hmo plan, and sometimes i didn't want to go through the trouble of getting a pcp referral to go to a specialist, so i went to the specialist directly and self-paid (cash). the cost was 20% less than the rate they bill insurance. theoretically this would mean that doctor visits would be 20% less costly if there wasn't inefficiencies in insurance. so instead of paying $700 per year in office visits you'd pay $560. that still doesn't make healthcare affordable for the working and lower class. i don't believe insurance is the reason why healthcare is expensive.
And this is one huge reason why our healthcare costs are going up. I can't believe the number of morons in US/canada who honestly believe "free" healthcare from the government would be an improvement?? How many projects has the government embarked on that resulted in a more efficient, cheaper, system ? As others have said, free healthcare isn't free (for middle class anyway). Free healthcare would cost more through taxes and the average person would be getting screwed once again as they subsidize someone elses care and receive less in return. The only beneficiaries of "free" healthcare would be people like the ones described in the quote above, or political candidates who try to get votes while supporting this plan.
I can't believe the morons who believe that depending on a private insurance company, whose first responsibility is to make a profit for its shareholders, is a better system. You are actually paying them to hire doctors and lawyers to find ways to deny your benefits. I think health care is too important to be left to the "free market" to decide who is covered and who is not. And the government does a much better job at building roads, providing police and fire services, national defense etc, etc than a private system could do.
How do you go from "private insurance company" to "free market." You are saying that there are no regulations if you buy private insurance? I've already posted about the difference in insurance rules between different states. It's federally and state regulated, not free market. Even if I pay for everything out of pocket, it's not free market. There are still a gazillion rules and regulations for the health provider to follow. And that's if they are even allowed to take your business, because "do you have insurance?" is the most important line in health care.
Perhaps you missed the quote marks around "free market" in my post. ETA: It was mainly directed at people who argue that "free market" forces will naturally produce the most efficient, lowest cost health care system. That may be true for cars and such, hell, it may even be true for health care, but it translates into millions of people who are not covered.