The population is 1/10th of ours, so I always wonder when people use it as an example of universal health care (either for or against). I am lucky enough to have a job with great benfits, but I have spent a fair amount of my life without any insurance. Luckily, nothing big happened (I was in my early 20's).
I think this is an example where both sides have good arguments and I'm honestly torn on the issue. I think health costs are getting ridiculous, but I'm not sure that even the best universal health plan can work here. So, that leaves me without much of an opinion.
I think that a couple of the biggest problems we have right now are:
1. Nobody (with insurance) knows how much a doctor's visit costs. You don't really see the bill, you just pay what your insurance doesn't cover. As 90% of the people out there (with insurance) how much a trip to the doctor costs and I'll bet they don't know.
2. We give the same level of coverage to people that are 23 as we do to people that are 55. In many cases a single person in their early 20's would do much better to just have catastrophic coverage and just pay their own way for their twice a year trip to the dentist and once a year (if that) trip to the doctor.
3. Insurance costs for the doctors. I know this is one area I agree with the conservatives on, it's really getting to be burdensome on doctors. That cost has to be passed on to the consumer, and it is a sizeable chunk of the recent increases in costs. I don't agree with their stance on limiting lawsuits though, I think that would cause way more problems.
-Craig