The insurance companies have a great deal of power here, and they are the ones currently in control of the health care system.

Because if the kind of system your country enjoys was created in the USA, the private healthcare industry would go bankrupt, and millions of people employed in that industry (and getting super-wealthy by exploiting the ill) would no longer have jobs. The private healthcare providers don't want their "Golden Goose" taken away from them, and they will do everything possible (including hiring actors to disrupt "town hall meetings" with screaming) to preserve the "status quo." +5

Because it takes away freedom, the freedom of choice. There is already emergency healthcare available to the dropouts and we have charities for those who fall thro the net. For the rest we can spend as much or as little as we want on health it's our choice and no slick politician can decide that for us. We don't seem to be doing that bad, we have to haul all you lot out of the mire and maintain a level of spending to police the world. A state funded medical profession becomes fat and doesn't address the problems the population want it to address, there again we lead the world many europeans come to the states for treatment not avaiable at home.

The answer is long, complex and multifaceted, but the short answer is this: Our government has been bought and paid for by corporate interests. The for-profit hospitals, the big pharmaceutical companies, and the big health insurance companies don't want universal health care (unless they get mandated profits from it). However, no Congressman who got up in front of his voters and said "I'm against health care reform because my campaign contributions from Big Pharma will go away if I support it." would ever get reelected. Similarly, no media pundit who announced "I *have* to be opposed to health care reform. Big pharmaceutical and insurance companies sponsor my show. They pay my salary" would have a job very long. So they cloak their self-interest in a fusillade of lies that obscure the two basic facts, 1) The United States spends DOUBLE per-capita on health care compared to similar countries around the world and 2) We get below-average outcomes for our money. . . .

Money and scum bag american politics.

Wealthy CEOs of health insurance companies would rather that people die from lack of insurance than give up a new Beemer every year.

Money. Pure and simple. Many folks claim that it's all about freedom and choices, but since when did the Republican Fascists ever care about Choice? (Got Abortion?) The same reason why drug lords won't give up making deadly narcotics for the black market- Money.

(sigh...) You speak the truth suzycue. We do provide health care for many people around the world, but not for all our own citizens. And it is, or should be, a great embarrassment. I want everyone in the US to receive health care without it being a devastating financial expense. We can do it, but it needs a lot of thought and planning. Simply saying the "government" should do it all for us is not appealing to most...nor is it to me. I want to be able to choose my own doctor and my facility. The same doctor I have had for years. I don't want the government inserting a finger into my private areas. I want to be treated by those I know if and when I need it. And I don't want the government telling me to "take a number". I want to make my appointment and see MY doc when I need to. Understand what I am saying? I think most Americans feel the same. If you are in a large urban city and no doc in town knows who the hell you are, and you don't know them, maybe it does not matter to you. But you are a very small part of the population. Look at a map, suzycue...where do you think "most Americans" live? Anyway, Listen to what many Canadians have to say about their system. You might not be so enthusiastic to copy it. Universal coverage does not have to mean government controlled medicine. But, anytime the gov. puts a nickle into anything, they think they own it. Give them an inch, and they want to be your ruler.....I am certainly not in love with the AMA or the insurance companies...and changes must be made...but I don't trust any f***ing lawyer in D.C any further than I can spit to tell me about health care, much less dictate a system to me.

The mindset of those who are against it is the driver..that mindset is controlled by their "leaders", all of whom have what they need for themselves and are totally against others having what they need. So they tell lies to frighten those who can't think for themselves...they use scare tactics..they yell, they shout, they drown out, they scheme, they undermine, they sabotage...that is their purpose. It is unique to the United States of America. How sad to be so well-known for something so shameful! :(

I have a sub question. Do the responses here reflect the feelings of the majority of US citizens or is it more a reflection of the population of A.B. ?

GREED.

It all comes down to greed. The insurance companies would no longer be making money or screwing people. They might actually have to live middle class for once. They want to nit pit about every little thing that might be wrong with it: increased time to see doctor, etc but at least you can see a doctor which is something most people can't afford to do now. I would rather wait 6 weeks for an appointment than die of something that is treatable. Greed.

Because the Republicans and Blue Dog Dems are in the pockets of HMO's and Insurance companies, who have a vested financial interest in stopping health care reform. And those same politicians, at the bidding of their masters, have willfully lied to the American people. And the sheep who watch Fox News will believe anything they are told by the propagandists at the station.

Because as you can see from the many negative comments on this answer the people of this country are stupid. The educational system in this country is so low as to be nonexistant, but everyone still thinks they have a right to an opinion, no matter how worthless it actually is. I have never seen such a place where people have a vested interest in cutting off their noses to spite their own faces. Ignroance is worshipped in America and it will be America's final downfall.

I asked an almost similar question once. The general consensus seems to be that either doctors won't be able to charge the fees that they want or that the "lowest of the low" will become doctors and the care will then be substandard. I personally think it's more about greed than anything else.

The truth is that most Americans ARE covered, and the few who aren't simply don't feel the need to pay for a service they don't currently need. Liberals love to point at a very few ppl who don't have insurance, but the neglect to mention the medically indigent programs that ARE already out there. The US system is designed to be more efficient than anything else out there. It responds to supply and demand. Yes, there are problems. But UHC is not the answer. Tort reform and allowing INDIVIDUALS to control their own private healthcare funding systems would work much, much better than one-size-fits-all Obamacare that can only ration healthcare without improving anything for anyone.

Because as it stands, the Health Insurance companies in the US, have a veritable licence to print money. They make Billions of dollars clear profit every year (that's billions with a "B") and they don't want to lose it. When the issue of universal health care first raised it's ugly head, the Insurance companies and their paid-for politicians cried, "Universal Healthcare is a Communist plot!" because back in those days anything that smacked of Communism was sure to fail. Over the years the rallying cry for the Anti-Healthcare idiots has changed many times. Currently it's "Bad for the Economy!" and "Healthcare for everybody? What about those freeloading illegal immigrants?" What it really comes down to is... huge Insurance companies are afraid that they'll have to settle for Millions of dollars clear profit every year when they've been just barely getting by with Billions of dollars clear profit (please take note of the sarcasm). Hope this helps.

Because not everyone here is a normal sane republican supporting patriot. There are libtards who stand in the snowflakes and trigger their penii or...something *blink*