Ask America: how much more wildly dysfunctional does your healthcare industry have to get before you finally admit what every other industrialized country on earth already understands: that health care is a public service, not a commodity?
Once someone has their slice of the American dream, they generally fight all cost/tax increases and change.
This is similar to the political syndrome where people think their representatives are great; it's all those other slimy bastards who are the problem. Thus, incumbents have a huge advantage and bad politicians rarely get fired.
(I'm a U.S. military brat, and took healthcare for granted until I went to University and was no longer covered. Now I'm Canadian and while I don't take healthcare for granted, I'm so glad I don't have to scramble for it the way that too many in the U.S. do.)
1) They're covered by a government plan already (medicare, medicaid)
2) They have a good employer-sponsored plan and don't see the costs. My own parents fall into this category, having worked for basically one company their entire lives and gaining entitlement to that plan on retirement. However, this form of entitlement is rapidly disappearing and I doubt that people entering the workforce today will have this level of benefit.
3) Cost is no object. Some people are fortunate enough to have either made or been born into enough money that a few hundred or a few thousand per month just isn't a big expense. I hope to be in this group some day, but I realize that this segment is never going to be a majority.
4) The terrified. I have a handful of friends that also fall into this group. They are told by their choice of media outlets that the socialists are going to take away their medical care and that the Democrats' bills are just the first on a "slippery slope" to take away their guns and their freedom.
Personally, I think the entire concept of employer-based healthcare is a drag on our economy. It puts a very high incentive on remaining in "safe" employment and dissuades people from starting their own ventures or joining a startup. I ran into this recently when trying to hire a developer. Unable to offer health insurance, even the potential rewards of working for a startup weren't enough to offset the risk involved in losing health coverage. This is particularly true in a system where any lapse in coverage can result in permanent ineligibility for future coverage.
The U.S. system delivers great care to those who can afford it. Perhaps the current Congressional bills aren't the right solution. But, the overall problem is strangling our competitive advantage. And America's entrepreneurs are at the forefront of this battle. I hope they don't also turn out to be its casualties.
This is similar to how I can respect someone who conservative on firm intellectual grounds, and who may be a Republican who voted for Bush, even though I don't agree with him; but not someone who liked and supported Bush.
I've lived here for thirteen years and haven't heard a single redditesque 'horror' story from anyone I know. If you want/need insurance you can find a way to get it cheaply. If you need medical care, you'll have access to better doctors, better drugs, and better equipment than just about anywhere in the world (not counting EU, as I don't know how your system works in practice). Yeah, our system could use an overhaul, but it is far, far from being 'wildly dysfunctional'.
But the point is: That $300/mo wasn't insurance it was a joke. And that $3000/mo wasn't insurance it was extortion.
If you think our healthcare industry is fine, well, god bless you. I hope you never have to go what my family went through.
Say what you want about reasonable people disagreeing with each other; the absence of any institutional support for universal health care is a big red flag that your system is broken.
The system is broken.
Just about every other rich country spends less per person on healthcare than the USA (typically about half), and the people live longer. The Japanese, the longest-lived large country in the world, spend about a third per person of what the USA does.
Clearly dysfunctional. "Wildly"? That's a matter for debate.