asks: "You people south of us, among the richest and most powerful of the world, with the deadliest arsenal and largest army (in $$$), don't even have healthcare for all your citizens?"

We have healthcare for all - including a considerable number of folks who are here illegally.

How it is paid for is something else. How much care someone gets, and what gyrations they have to go through to get it, are something else too.

"US: you -> insurance company acccepts/denies care -> healthcare"

We always have the option to pay out-of-pocket. It's even tax-deductible once you exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. Of course 62% of US personal bankruptcies are driven by medical costs, but hey, nothing's perfect...

"Canada: You -> healthcare -> goverment pays bill"

No, the taxpayers pay the bill.

"you're putting a FOR PROFIT company between YOU and the care! A private company owes dues to its shareholders, NOT you. The more care they give, the less profit they make. You are in DIRECT opposition to their MAIN reason of existence."

Well, there is that. Everything has a downside, y'know.

But the insurance companies have really neat ads on TV, radio and in print. Oh wait...we pay for all that, indirectly, don;t we?

"In Canada, healthcare providers are all independant agents. They simply provide all care. The government pays the bill after with the population's income. Simple, efficient."

You mean with taxes. Americans don't like taxes. They think they pay too much in taxes already and don't want to pay more.

"I was assigned a primary care doctor and could NOT go to another one."

That was the particular plan you were on, probably an HMO.

"Come on people, wake up."

You just don't understand.

First off, if the USA went to a Canadian-style system, what would happen to all of the insurance companies now providing health insurance? Sure, the government could probably contract out much of the administration of the new system, but if it's as simple and straightforward as you say, the total administration would be much smaller. So there would be a lot of unemployed insurance company folks, and a lot of lost revenue in advertising, printing up all the different paperwork, etc.

Second, if I understand the Canadian system correctly, either the national or the provincial government negotiates prices for things like prescription drugs. Which reduces the price to the point that some Americans find cross the border so they can afford their medications and food, too. If Canada can hold down prices that way, imagine what would happen if the US did it. Imagine the lost profits, the lost advertising...

Third is the worst. The real deal-killer. The no-way-Jose problem.

If the USA adopted a Canadian-style system, or a French-style system, or a Japanese-style system, or a British, Australian, German, New Zealand, Swiss or other industrialized-nation single-payer system, it would mean that the USA DIDN'T have the #1 best system now. It would mean that somebody else figured out a better way to deliver and pay for health care than The American Way.

Well, we simply cannot have that. What would people think?