EXCELLENT QUESTION. I'd like to know myself

Yes it won't really be free. First off that free healthcare has to be paid for somehow. That means lots of taxes will go way way up to help offset the massive bill for providing free healthcare to everyone. That's not a bad thing if you are rich and can afford it but what about the poor who are barely surviving on what they make now. Having to foot a larger tax bill just to get free healthcare would put alot of the poorest under financially. Then there is the quality. You think if there is free healthcare and you go to a hospital with a serious life threatening gunshot wound you will still be taken right away. Try you will be lucky if you don't bleed to death before they get to calling you in. All those top notch docs we have in this country will find other fields to go into when medicine is no longer a lucrative career choice for them any longer. I agree something needs to be done about the curreent state of America's healthcare system but going to socialized medicine like much of Europe and Canada is definitely not the answer. We have to find a better solution than that.

It would be a wonderful, fair, and humane thing. It would benefit our society by helping keep everyone healthy and on their jobs. But there is the big problem of the way it would be financed. The government and it's many agencies have every penny of tax money locked up as soon as it is collected. No on wants to part with any of their piece of the pie and raising enough taxes to pay for this would be a real magic trick. There is also insurance companies who make a lot of money from medical care and being able to regulate the industry as they like. If the government takes over this aspect of the business, the insurance companies will suffer and so they fight it with their considerable wealth and power. As I see it, the only stumbling block is greed. Government and big business greed.

The wealthy among us look at things differently..they don't want to give no lousy handouts..they don't want no bailing anyone out..they don't want no looking out for those who have a difficult road in life...there are, of course, exceptions..there are those, famous "those" who say they are not paying enough taxes and wish to pay a bigger share..but they are the rare, the few, the "unicorns". So it depends mostly on your bank balance...my bank balance has never been spectacular..I worry a lot about healthcare costs...I am among those to whom the wealthy say "we don't want to give no lousy handouts"! :(

Of course, free health care isn't really free. It is funded in most countries that have it by a specific tax, which is paid by everybody who is employed or self-employed. It is basically just an insurance policy, but with the advantage that premiums are wavered in the case of those who earn less than a particular amount or who are unemployed, which seems to me to be a far more humane system than one that says you'll get a lower quality of treatment if you aren't insured. A great advantage of state administered healthcare is that premium payments are not put to the purpose of making a profit for the insurance companies. Further, there is still a private sector, available to anybody who wishes to use it. Those that chose to do this can avoid waiting lists, although there are no waiting lists for emergency treatment.

Our U.S. health care needs changing. Too many people are out of the loop. And health insurance is too high, even for those who have it. I am not expert enough to give a solution. But, "free health care" is never going to be free. And most things that are free are also of lesser quality.

It would be wonderful, if you didn't live in a society where the private sector and its overriding ethic of self-interest rule the roost. Your government could easily take the money to set up and fund a universal health care system right out of the military with no ill consequences, but it'll never do anything to compromise its stance of pure, unbridled self-interest.

Some ideas die hard. Among the most resilient is the utopian belief that health care could be cheap, free, and available to all, if only we’d let the government take care of it. For the greater part of the last half century, a number of our more “enlightened” — that is, more socialist-minded — neighbors, such as Canada and the European nations, have nationalized their medical industries and ever since have been struggling to live up to their promise of “health insurance and quality health care” for all. Huge waiting lists for care and visitations with specialists, a lack of sophisticated medical equipment, rising costs (which must be met by rising taxes), and a general increase in dissatisfaction with government-run health care are typical in all countries where the government, literally, calls the shots. The first error of those who promote “national health care” is their complete inability to accept that nothing in life is certain. Just because a law is passed guaranteeing “quality medical care for all” doesn’t mean it will happen — though this is certainly a heretical view in today’s climate of government worship. No matter how much they may want it, leftists will have to accept that regardless of the system in place, someone, somewhere, will go without the care he needs. Conventional “wisdom” has maintained that at least under a government system more people will have care than otherwise. But after 50 years of experimentation, the jury is in: Socialized medicine simply cannot deliver the goods. Perhaps that is what’s at the root of leftists’ continued belief in the state — they refuse to accept that regardless of how passionately they feel about everyone’s need to be covered against medical emergency, reality requires that the proper distribution of goods and services be through a peaceful, voluntary — that is, free — market. Like it or not, medical care is a market good. And we ignore the market’s winds at our peril. The Soviet Union proved the long-run impossibility of socialism, yet it is just this kind of command-and-control mentality which former president Bill Clinton, Hillary, Senator John Breaux, and a whole host of other like-minded American socialists would like to bring to the health-care debate. There is NO SUCH THING as a "Free lunch"....the money comes from SOMEWHERE.... So when politicians talk about providing something free, ask them to identify the beneficent Santa Claus or tooth fairy. Here's why I consider Socialized health care to be NOT a "good thing": 1) Destroys patient incentives to find the best possible prices for the best possible services/products available. 2) Destroys physician incentives to provide competitive care and destroys drug companies' incentives to provide new drugs and treatments. 3) Steals from YOUR wallet to pay for MY health care. 4) The quality of "free" health care will deteriorate and the average citizen will get sicker. (As the poor and middle-class wait in agony for simple procedures, those with resources can travel to other countries for treatment) 5) Destroys your privacy. (Suddenly your problems are mine and mine are yours. If you are eating unhealthy foods or driving a motorcycle without a helmet, I have a direct interest in your business - you are going to see a doctor on my tax dollars) 6) Destroys your liberty. (When you blindly support a system that gives politicians and bureaucrats the power to force others to follow a plan, those politicians and bureaucrats will receive their orders from those with the most money - and you can guarantee this will not be you, your friends or your family. The power of government will be used against you as you are forced to use medicines or accept treatments from well-connected health care companies.)

I am all for universal health care. Get rid of our health insurance companies co-pays deductibles and all that money robbing for profit greedy conglomerates out there. Our system sucks BIG TIME! Canada, France and half of Europe get along just fine with their systems...why can't "the most powerful nation in the world" do it too? Think about it! How's this for paying for it, cut back on all the waisted tax dollars going for phony wars and policing the world! Every citizen of the United States could have health care!!!!!!!!! BTW good question Zack. : )

Your missing the fact that there is no such thing as free. Health care costs and is it right that some pay for all including for non-citizens?

I dont believe it will be free, nothing is free in this world.

Well it would be free. Some one will pay for it. Tax payers, employers, parents. The question we want to ask is Is there a more effentent way to pay for healthcare so that everyone can be included

It is a very good thing...but we cannot afford to pay for universal health care unless we reform the current system....however due to a strong medical lobby and our current weak politicans you will not soon see universal health care....we have tried it in Massachusetts...our political leaders of course vastly underestimated the demand so within 2 years the program is in the red and we are going to have to pay more taxes...in a perfect world it would be great...America is not a perfect world...

There are pros and cons. Free heathcare is a great Idea but so was communism. Its very difficult to say ok its going to be free for everyone but there are limitations to what we can do for free. Everyone has different needs and its impossible to provide a service that works for some problems but your screwed if your problem is different from the rest.

Oh if only! We currently have no health care anywhere due to changes in rules between the UK and France. Lot's of hassle trying to get cover and so far taken 4 months paper pushing. Nightmare. I think Health care should be freely available to everyone world wide.

Here's what Americans actually living in countries with free at the point of access universal healthcare have to say about it and the lies that they were fed about "socialized medicine" by the US media, oh and there are some Canadians too:  

I am all for pleasant imaginary fantasy things. Unicorns, Pegasus, Mermaids, Pixies, Elves, Faeries, Leprechauns and the like. All are entertaining folklore that free up creative thinking and allow up to see things "outside of the box". But when you speak of "free health care " you are talking about exactly the same thing. There is ALWAYS A COST! This carrot of "Universal Health Care" that the Clintons and others have been dangling before us since they got themselves elected to the Presidency the first time will have disastrous effects on both the state of health care in general, our economy and the Federal budget. For one sadly gone are the days that the practice of medicine was strictly all about the selfless deeds of the Hippocratic oath, and more about our best and brightest going into the field of medicine for the greed of the almighty dollar. That isn't to imply there aren't ANY kind caring and compassionate doctors left, but if you take away the incentive that is our free markets approach to health care the quality of it will fall dramatically as well as available doctors. Secondly now you are talking about not only those suckling on the teat of our Government for benefits already and add in every other U.S. citizen our Federal deficit will spiral out of control exponentially faster than it currently is. I'm truly sorry if you feel my opinion of your naivety is too harsh but you did ask for opinions here and this is mine.

I think free healthcare would be wonderful. Maybe taxes would go up a little, but we have to pay for healthcare anyway out of one pocket or the other. But if healthcare was "free" it would be available to everyone and not just the very rich and the very poor. It works pretty good in Canada and Europe. Why not for us?

OF course it would be paid in taxes (which aren't used in places that they should be) by everyone who pays. But there is to much invested in HMO's there was a clip of Nixion approving HMO's not because it helped but because it benefited as a buissnes and was set up to take money away from people while dening aid.

Yes and no. Free health care is good to have, but free health care is not really "free". If you really want free health care, you will have to be willing to pay higher taxes.

I don't think it has to be free, but could be on a sliding scale according to one's ability to pay. Some basic care has to be free. If you want better care than that, then pay for a policy that meets your needs. When stem cell research is allowed, there will be huge changes in health care.

Where I live Health care is depending on your income. I would love to see free health care for all but it may not be practical. You are not missing a thing.

I agree that everyone should have access to good health care, I don't agree it should be free. Nothing is free. We would all still have to pay for health care only it would be in the form of higher taxes. If you think this government is capable of running a health care system, just walk into any government office in the country and see how efficient things are being done there. If you think the DMV is bad remember this. Not everyone has a car, but everyone needs health care.

Sort of. See, it won't be free to everyone. If you work for a living you will pay for your coverage. In addition your taxes will cover the rest of the costs. You will pay the extra money (as tax) even if you choose not to get coverage yourself. The only people it will truly be free for are the same deadbeats we support in every other aspect of their lives (through welfare etc.).

If anyone thinks taxes would go up "a little" for this "free healthcare for everyone" you would be terribly mistaken. Would you really want to see government run healthcare in the U.S.? Do you want the government deciding when and what healthcare you can have? I'm already tired of supporting all the people on medicaid, food stamps, disability. There is such abuse in these government run assistance programs. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem helping those who truly are disabled, nor those who have hit a rough spot in their lives and need temporary assistance for food, shelter, and medicines, but way too many people are on these programs that have the means to take care of themselves and their own. Private charities are way more efficient at helping people who need assistance.

It works a lot of other places around the world. Its called Socialism and it really scares people. I'm a Socialist and would love to see socialized medicine.

OK. I understand both viewpoints but I also know this. I have insurance which pays for everything but dental. For over 2 years I have been getting severe teeth infections which have gone untreated because I can't pay for it.. Now, my teeth are so bad, I can't just get them pulled.. They all have to be Surgically cut out..at $1000 a tooth.. plus x rays, etc.. Had I been able to get them taken care of 2 years ago, I could have saved insurance a lot of money on pain medicine, missed work, anitibiotics, etc.. now, it's too late.. My infection spreads from 1 tooth to all of them.. antibiotics don't work anymore.. I can either choose to get my teeth taken care and pay NO BILLS at all (no food, nothing) for 2 1/2 years or pay my rent, food, etc.. Eventually the infections will get in my bloodstream and kill me.. There are dental schools and low income places who work on teeth BUT if you have any sort of insurance (whether it pays or not) you don't qualify.. Those in which I do qualify for have waiting list of as long as 5-7 years to get an appt..So do I care if I have to pay a little more in taxes.. NO.. I don't.. because whether you know it or not (or care) there are a LOT of people like me who are sick with things that could easily be treated with insurance.. 5 years ago I could have seen a dentist and gotten EVERYTHING done for $300.00..now, the oral surgeon wants $1000 when I walk in the door before he even sees me. so you will never convince me that this is a bad thing. Paying more in taxes is still much cheaper than having to find $20,000 to pay for treatment for something

It has its downside. My MIL lives in England, so I've seen some of how it works. It is great for the little things, but if you need a specialist you can wait a long time. Sometimes you may be dead by the time you get an appointment. I think the first thing we need to do in this country is close the loophole that allows health insurance companies to raise rates astronomically when someone in the family gets sick. Effectively, they are cancelling your insurance because you are sick, as you can't afford it and have to drop it. If you have to drop it when you are sick, it isn't insurance, its extortion. I really think we need to pressure congress to change the laws so that health insurance covers the whole body, not the body minus the eyes, teeth and brain. Many diseases show up first in the teeth and eyes, diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. If the eyes and teeth were included, insurance companies could possibly avoid expensive testing, amputations and long term disability care. It would probably save them money in the end.

It's not a good thing and here's why. This plan will start out providing healthcare for those people who really need it and then the sorry, criminal & lazy people will find a way to qualify and receive it but never have to contribute. The hard working class will end up paying all the costs for a program that will end up subsidizing a majority who wil abuse it. That is exactly what is happening now within the welfare programs that were started in the 60s and were designed as a temporary program. Think of this...why work and pay for healhcare when you can now find a way to get free government aid for medicare, rent and monthly food stamps when others are paying for the entire costs. The healhcare program will fail just like welfare. And as more naturalized citizens populate the country they will be entitled to the same benefits without contributing once they find a way to scam and abuse the system. It's not a good program. Politicians play it up to get people to vote for them but they are hiding the actual truth.

I just think you should leave out those people that damage their health by smoking, drinking alkohol and eating too much sugar and fast food.

I think it's a good thing, with some caveats. First of all, everyone says taxes will need to be raised. I bet that if you take all the money that people pay on premiums and all the money spent on denying and appealing insurance claims, you'd be able to pay for universal health care. It's just a question of shifting where the payments are going. Unfortunately, I believe care will still need to be rationed in some way. (It's rationed now, only it's done by ability to pay rather than by any objective criteria.) We as a society need to decide what our priorities are, and develop a plan that covers a basic package of services. However, there absolutely must be a way in which people can buy services that aren't covered. I don't believe in a system that forbids extra coverage.

Yeah..your missing it.

let me play devil's advocate. 1 - healthcare can never be free. 2 - until the underlying flat tire is fixed, adding more weight to the broken system will only worsen our predicament.

Yes, you are. You are obviously missing Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly's shows

Who told you it would be free? Someone has to pay for it, NOTHING IS FREE.

It isn't free. You can not make me believe that you actually think that it is free. You really don't, do you? Can you explain that if in fact you do think it is free?

Didja think about exactly who pays for it? ;-)

Yes the "free" part is completely false.

If we are the richest country in the world, every citizen should have SOME LEVEL of coverage. If that level isn't good enough for everyone in the US then add to that coverage by buying a better policy. I'd like to know how many upper income retirees have turned down Medicare???? That's a great program but I buy a supplemental policy. Does anyone really think that most people would bypass owning a house, car, assets, etc., just so they could have free health care. Gimme a break!!