Why are you trying so hard to help people who don't feel they need help? Just be glad you have the system you want and that, in your opinion, works best. I know I'm happy =)

I live in Canada and like our health care system but it does bother me to see many people with preventable diseases (due to obesity, etc) tie up the system.

But then again I would rather have it this way than to have people who work to lose everything due to no fault of their own (something that I've seen in the U.S.).

Food stamps? Food banks?

In any case, food is incredibly cheap where even those at the poverty level can afford the required sustenance to survive. You can't say the same thing for health care. If you know of a way to get the cost of health care down to level of food, then I will cease all arguments for the need for health care reform.

USA is a super capitalist state. America is a nasty dog eat dog nation its healthcare system is designed that if you are rich you live, if you are poor you die. It has been well documneted time and time again. USA ranked only 38th in the world for health care systems but is the richest country in the world. It makes you sick hearing about that.

The Michael Moore video showed us what the real American health care system was like. OMG I was totally shocked how bad the country is run: huge gap between haves and have nots. Michael showed us the different countries health care systems and how they were so much better than America.

Even with health care insurance which you pay through the nose for in USA, they will look at any loophole to knock you back from life saving treatment to save some money in the USA. Capitalism in USA is pure evil in the way companies callously pursue huge profits at all costs.

I would never ever want to visit USA let alone live there. Social welfare and health care systems in America are terrible. I can not go to America even on holiday due to my criminal record.

European nations lead the way in regards to having the best health care systems and are considered safer countries to live in.

Off-Topic - Most other countries have much lower crime rates and do not throw everyone in prison for little or no reason. USA holds 50% of the world's prison population yet accounts for less than 5% of the world's population.

@ Numonex - check it - get fired or laid off from a job where you had health care and get a new job and health care with a pre-existing condition and see how far you get.

I had to struggle for 2 months without health care - though the paper gave me money for the two months of COBRA - like $2,400 - thought I returned it. Still, I miss the days when my dad was in the military and we went to the hospital for whatever we needed. He had paid for it, but the general's wife - or the airmen's wife - got the same treatment. I miss not knowing with a co-pay is - going to a pharmacy and dropping off a prescription - and picking it up without having to pay $100 per medicine.

Yeah, military health care is socialized - and I love it. If it works for the military, why not roll it out for the mass public? With folks being laid off, there are too many folks out of work - and I know several - who can't afford $1,200 a month for COBRA - and if we had socialized medicine, they'd be covered.

I know I'll be flamed for this, but right is right. Sure, the hospitals have a right to care for everyone - to the point where they are better - they have to do that. They aren't required to do anything else after that.

In the end, a healthy nation is much better off than a nation filled with maimed, crippled and sickly folks.

I giggle when I see Canada slotted just a mere 8 countries higher than the US.

We should stop pretending that North America is ANYTHING like Europe. Heterogeneous societies, breadth of land, enormous country sizes, relatively small population per square area, etc. factor in enormously in every-single-fucking-thing we do.

Good for Europe and good for France that they topped the list. Maybe if North American Muslims rioted and flipped over cars because they suffer from a nearly 50% unemployment rate, we'd fix our healthcare system.

The world health organisation...

I think they may know a little bit about health

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

I believe that is what they call PWNED

Food is a commodity and the rages vary. Even so If you can't afford food the government often give you enough to buy basic food. If you are rich yo can afford more expensive food and so on... I'll get back to that point, it wasn't very good was it lol.

Private schools, like private health have high standards, but are only available to very few people. But the thing with social education is that it t guarentees that everyone has a minumum standard of education facilities instead of very few having high standards. The rich can still afford the high standards, but the poor also have a standard, be it not as goo, it still exists.

Do you know what I mean?

Funnily enough, I think that education is something the US government have handled quite well. It would benefit Britain to adopt some US practices for education, we're a bit shit at the mo with that lol.

Lol, you sound just like my dad, I could have imagined them words coming out of his mouth. I don't think they are taking your life, it's just a tax to keep peoples healthcare fairly high. You would do the same for the police or the fire services wouldn't you?