It's not free, but it's far cheaper. Per capita American healthcare is much more expensive and provides far less service.
It's not free, but it's far cheaper. Per capita American healthcare is much more expensive and provides far less service.
Well, in general, healthcare costs per capita have been shooting up pretty fast even in places with "free" healthcare like Canada (I think it's around 10% of GDP here now?). It's just that they've been massively outpacing inflation in the US ever since the 70s, whereas before American healthcare was no more expensive (and usually better in quality).
The interesting thing is that, in the US, costs have tended to increase drastically whenever it moves closer towards a socialized or semi-socialized system (away from out of pocket spending and towards Medicare, Medicaid, and mandated insurance). It already does have two pretty good examples of fully "socialized" systems in the form of the Indian Health Service and the Veterans Health Administration, so I guess they can be used as models for what American healthcare would look like if it went all the way.
Also, if the Americans change their system too much, rich people from Europe, Canada, etc wouldn't be able to go there when they need treatment, so instead of using their money to go to American hospitals they'd be using their influence to bump themselves up the waiting list at home, which is hardly a good thing for anyone involved.