Yesterday I had my teeth cleaned. Was chatting to the dental hygienist, highly intelligent person who said she has an aunt with seven siblings, whose first names all begin with the letter J.
My teeth are terrible, because my dear departed mother who I miss greatly was English, and the English often have terrible teeth because they are among the world's leading candy eaters. The hygienist remarked that she had never seen anyone with more dental work, and I explained why. She asked me whether it's true that dentistry is free in England. I replied that the last I've been in UK was 1979-1984, when I worked in London, and at that time dentistry was nearly 100 per cent covered by National Health. I seem to recall paying two pounds sterling (about $3) per visit to the dentist, a great burly bear of a man with a West Indian receptionist, nice guy, very friendly. The hygienist said she had heard English dentists were terrible. I replied that I had no problems with my dentist, and that he didn’t seem any worse than the American dentists I've been to.
She asked me about doctor visits, whether these were free too. I told her yes they were in 1979-1984, but I'm not sure of the situation now. Though two years ago I attended my half sister's wedding, who married an English journalist, and I spent about three hours talking to her mother in law, who is an executive at a British company, but started out very humbly as a West Indian immigrant to England, who started work at the company as a secretary, and climbed the ranks to a highly responsible position. I was quite shocked about the way she talked about the National Health Service. She resented that it was free and that her taxes were paying for health services to idle yobbos. Sounds like my accountant talking about Obamacare (actually he will discover next year that he is no longer my accountant, on account that I don't like people with that kind of attitude). Sounds like my ex-podiatrist trash talking Obamacare.
The really awful and stupid thing about these folks is that they suffer class envy, not the type referred to by Mitt Romney, where less affluent citizens envy the affluent, but reverse class envy, where the affluent resent anything that goes to the less wealthy or to the poor, who they regard as idle lazy idiots dependent on government largesse.
It's not true of all affluent citizens. My spouse and I do not mind paying taxes, and we are reasonably affluent, not truly wealthy but we are somewhat north of the alternative minimum tax.
It's my opinion that one reason that many affluent suburbanites vote Republican is purely and simply for pocketbook reasons, and that if we can win over some of these pocketbook Republicans, Democrats would rule.
I should add that UK has longer life expectancy than the US, and the per capita cost for health care is about half the US cost. You see the US spends so much on administration and folks who evaluate whether you should get a particular procedure and on advertising and on profits to shareholders. We also pay more because we pay inflated prices to drug companies. Health care is one area where the private sector is much less efficient than the public sector.