I grew up with socialized medicine, and I know what a disaster it is. It's coming, of course. You can feel it. Bush paved the way. The golden era of American medicine and research will soon cede to more and more state control. It will exchange a great deal of its excellence for more access for more people. That's the bargain most democracies make.
There are people I love and care about with no health insurance. Mostly low-income, mostly self-employed, and many of the ones I know personally work in the arts, as part-time college faculty, etc.
And I know a lot of people, including myself, who remain in a full-time job they may not care for (I love much about my job, especially the teaching, and yet the negativity and pettiness that seems an inevitable part of academic life seems intolerable at times) or want to leave, stay in it to maintian health insurance for themselves and especially their dependents.
I know socialized medicine would bring with it many problems. But I'd rather pay some higher taxes and know that the people who can't get health insurance, and who can't pay the often higher-than-what-insurance-companies-pay-providers fees, are covered.
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