1. What leads you to believe I am a jet-setter? Also, what leads you to believe these nations are democracies? I am not sure any democracies exist. Instead we have several nations that started out as representative republics that have been leaning more and more toward socialism or at least huge government-imposed regulation in a number of areas, not just health care.

2. It’s economically and practically true that people spend more wisely if it actually “hurts” to spend money…that’s why people who live without credit card debt typically live on less that people with huge credit card debt. And the simple fact is that there are documented cases of the government health systems cutting people off because they’re too expensive to treat – one such story came out in the last couple of weeks.

1. Its easy to claim that the people of Canada and Western Europe don’t like universal health care and that might be the majority viewpoint heard by American conservatives speaking with jet setting European conservatives at international con-fabs. But these nations are all democracies and finding a elected leader calling for privitizing health care is as rare as hens teeth. The real evidence is that while the citizenry might want reforms or improvements to the system, no serious element is calling for its abolishment.

2. The neo-liberal mantra that consumers would spend more wisley if it was their own money is weak. Very little of the expense, particular the rising expenses, of health care is the scraped knee type. Most of it is “end of life” care. Putting off cancer surgery until off-season clearance sales is not a recommendation I would make.