do those also include a pension, college, child care, etc? I don't know their whole system, but I think we "pay" for many of the things the French pay for collectively. The theory being they all take care of each other. I don't know if that would work for us, because our nation is nothing like France. But, those taxes aren't just for health care....

I can't really argue the merits of any particular system because I just know enough to know many country's citizens are quite happy with their health care systems and that we could possibly develop a system that will be the best of the best. From a personally selfish standpoint, I like my healthcare just the way it is. I have excellent insurance! Your tax dollars pay for most of it So, thank you.

I did find this thread about the French system. The Informed Reader - WSJ.com : Is French Health Care Really Better? It looks like it addresses the positives and the negatives. But, I don't know for sure. It is the WSJ, so it isn't a totally crazy site. I did find the posts from a few US citizens who have experienced the French system interesting

"Believerinfacts is right on the money. The facts are simple. Socialized medicine countries (France in particular) not only have better health outcomes, they are much more efficient. Many spend the same per capita on health care as the U.S. government, but provide health care to the entire population while the U.S. only covers approximately 50% of the total U.S. health bill. They also spend much less on paperwork and overhead.

I used to be 100% anti-socialized medicine until I lived in France. There I found out that the health care was excellent, I didn’t wait in line any more than in the U.S., and the price was at least half or more cheaper than the U.S. I would recommend that people get the facts themselves because they are quite clear. The health care lobby has obfuscated the facts so that people who are free marketers like me reflexively believe their propaganda. However, a close examination of the issue will shed light on the fact that clearly countries like France have superior health care systems. Philosophically, I don’t like that, but the facts are telling me it is true and therefore, I have no choice but to strongly support single payer health care now.

Comment by JB - July 2, 2007 at 12:56 pm
JB is right. I also used to be skeptical of “socialized” health systems. But facts are facts and ideology shouldn’t trump them.

The bottom line is that France, Germany and other modern nations provide much better health care, including life expectancy, infant mortality, quality care, and shorter waiting periods for critical care for as little as half the cost of the U.S. system.

Ideologues on the right can grasp at straws with theories about “population density” etc, but the bottom line is that the U.S. system spends billions of dollars and thousands of smart minds trying to deny care and cost shift because that’s how the incentives are structured.

Comment by Concerned Citizen - July 2, 2007 at 1:14 pm "