@
Hitch, my comments were specifically about Australia, and its health care system, not about the US or its health care system. I have no insights to offer on what will happen to the US health care system, so much has changed since I lived there, which was more years ago than I care to admit
Australians are at heart Benthamite utilitarians - the greater good for the greatest number is intuitively understood by a wide cross section. We tend to roll our eyes and sigh when Yanks and Poms trot out their Libertarian and/or Thatcherite mantras. You've probably know semi-automatic weapons are banned here. John Howard did that, he is a true-blue conservative, G.W. Bush referred to him as a 'man of steel' - I guess no one told George that that was the meaning of 'Stalin'
Incidentally I based my estimate of the costs of the pacemaker replacement, on
this and similar pages.
BR