Obamacare #3

Jane O'Brien, one of BBC America's new anchors, expressed some puzzlement as to why Americans think there is something wrong with socialized medicine; like me, she grew up in a country in which the government pays for peoples' health care from the taxes it raises.

I can vouch for the fact that while it may not be bleeding edge, the National Health Service does a fine job. It is also free from the fraud and abuse that plagues the American health care industry and contributes significantly to its quite disproportionate cost. At the same time, anecdotal evidence suggests that the American healthcare is far from perfect; start a discussion about medicine and you're far more likely to hear a horror story than a glowing endorsement.

It's hard to see why people who have never had any experience with 'socialized medicine', who complain about high cost and poor treatment from the system they have, are so opposed to something of which they know nothing, which statistics suggests does at least as good, if not better, a job.