The concept of health insurance is a bit fucked up in the U.S., since everybody needs healthcare. My country has a system that, while bad, sounds absolutely aw

The concept of health insurance is a bit fucked up in the U.S., since everybody needs healthcare. My country has a system that, while bad, sounds absolutely awesome compared to the U.S. . It's a socialist system that is called Mutualism. The best explanation I could come up with after some Googling is: http://www.hmg.gov.uk/media/60217/mutuals.pdf http://www.hmg.gov.uk/media/60217/mutuals.pdf "Mutual organisations do not have external shareholders - they are controlled by their members. Members may be users of the mutual, employees, other stakeholders or a combination of these Mutual organisations are either owned by and run in the interests of existing members, as is the case in building societies, cooperatives and friendly societies, or, as in many public services, owned on behalf of the wider community and run in the interests of the wider community" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(economic_theory) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(economic_theory) It does have several downsides - mutual healthcare institutions are strongly discouraged from doing any healthcare on non life-threatening situations, waiting lists for surgeries are way too long, there's corruption and doctor bribing and queue-jumping and strikes... but it "works", most people have good healthcare and don't get bankrupt if they need surgery, for just about U$ 100 per month, and their families have coverage too. PD: see also http://books.google.com.uy/books/about/Mutualism_and_Health_Care.html?id=tDvqCN5aUdUC&redir_esc=y http://books.google.com.uy/books/about/Mutualism_and_Health_...