Oh God Mary I sympathize. This system is a travesty. We already have many of the disadvantages of socialized medicine - long wait times, having to go through all the 'referral' nonsense, etc. with none of the advantages. And there's very little security in having health insurance (you never know how much or if they really will pay - you may unknowingly violate some obscure requirement or your doctor may not fill out the forms right...) or of course if you're not part of a group they may just drop you if you get sick. And the costs are so astronomical that very few would be able to save up enough to deal with a real catastrophic medical situation. And I don't think the taxes are any higher in those countries who have socialized medicine if you factor in the cost of the health care premiums many of us are paying. Our system isn't working. The statistics speak for themselves - our infant mortality rate is significantly below the rest of the developed world, and one fifth of all the countries exceed us in life expectancy. It's a disgrace.