How do you know it will be substandard? From my travels to New Zealand, I'd argue their single-payer health care experience is overall better than here. You ca

How do you know it will be substandard? From my travels to New Zealand, I'd argue their single-payer health care experience is overall better than here. You can buy private insurance there which supplements the public system and lets you visit private hospitals outside of the public systems, but you don't need it for emergencies or standard GP checkups. Most people don't bother since the public system is good. And from a tax perspective, according to the BBC, the US effectively taxes an average income single person at 22.7% while NZ taxes at 16.4% [1]. For the top bracket, in US it is 39.6% while in NZ it is 33% [2][3]. I'd argue they are getting a much better deal than us. And don't forget the US numbers are before health insurance is paid. So, it is definitely possible to get a good system. I think one of our major problems as a country is that we lack transparency which undermines trust and makes it easier to corrupt the system. You can't run a good health care system without transparency and accountability, regardless of whether it is a public or private system. Cheers! [1] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26327114 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26327114 [2] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf [3] http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/taxrates-codes/rates/itaxsalaryandwage-incometaxrates.html http://www.ird.govt.nz/how-to/taxrates-codes/rates/itaxsalar...