I have been staying out of the Tank precisely because of this issue. Every time I read the misinformation and misdirection that some folks are posting there, my blood pressure starts to go up. (I admit that I dropped a bomb in there yesterday and ran. Sorry, Av. I'm sure my post has been eviscerated by now; I'm too chicken to go back and see what's left of it....)
The problem in the US is that as soon as you even breathe the mere suggestion that taxpayers should fund health care, the right starts screaming about those damn Socialists who are gonna rip apart the fabric of this great nation, etc.
Jeebus.
I think a single-payer system is the only way to meaningfully reform American health care. I am starting to believe that it's unethical for anybody to use the delivery of health care as a means of making money. That's not to say that doctors/nurses/etc. should work for free! What I mean is that the system ought to be run, if not by the government, then as a nonprofit. Otherwise people get greedy, and you end up with the situation we have in the US right now: insurance companies maximizing their profits by developing products that will cost consumers more in premiums but will cover less and less -- all so that investors can make more money. It really is shameful.