I think it's an exaggeration to say that "In most countries in the western world, except for the United States, and recently Canada, medical care is available f

I think it's an exaggeration to say that "In most countries in the western world, except for the United States, and recently Canada, medical care is available for free." That is only true for non-zero values of "free". http://wikileaks.org/leak/crs/RL34175.pdf http://wikileaks.org/leak/crs/RL34175.pdf (Congressional Research Service RL34175) figure 1, "Health Care Spending Per Capita, 2004", shows that every country in the report spends some private money on health care. You yourself spent $5 to replace your lost pharmaceuticals in Spain, didn't you? Table 1 shows that health care in Spain is 71% public money. Figure 21 shows out-of-pocket expenses per capita: Spain averages almost 24%, and the US just over 13% - of course, the spending in the US is 3x Spain, so that's really about $488 in Spain vs $793 in the US. Oh, and while it's a common error to think that the US Constitution enshrines the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness", it does not. That phrase is from the Declaration of Independence, which has no legal standing.