I have no idea what's happening in Ireland, I don't spend my free time desperately looking for factoids that I can use for political ammunition on the Zone.

But I do have access to direct, information on what's happening in Australia. I corresponded with a gentleman there receiving state-of-the-art treatment for a very serious disease. (He used to post in the zone, but he got driven off by our endless political bickering). He wrote to me at length about his experience when Obamacare was struggling through Congress, mostly to tease me on how totally screwed up our attitudes on health care were. When I asked him if he was afraid of loss of care if the Conservatives took power in his country, he expressed no fears at all. He remarked that the medical care system was too popular with the people, and there was no danger even the most right wing government would dare dismantle it. Sort of the way Social Security and Medicare have evolved here, and a clue to why the Right is so determined to stop Obamacare. Conservatives in Australia follow many of the same policies their counterparts in the US do, but sabotaging the National Health is not one of them.

He was satisfied with both the technical level of his treatment and the conscientiousness of his doctors. He expressed no urge to travel to the US and receive our care, although I doubt he could have afforded it anyway.

I'll grant you one thing: if a Republican legislative majority and executive arose in Washington, they would do everything they possibly could to repeal Obamacare, and failing that, they would deliberately try to hamstring the system and make it fail to generate public opposition to it--regardless of how many had to suffer and die so they could get their way. Hell, they're trying to do that right now, in spite of the American people voting for a President who promised them ACA, and re-elected him after a second term election mostly fought on ACA.

It was passed by both Houses, signed by the President, and confirmed by the Supreme Court. It is the law.

The Republican resistance to any attempt by the government to extend health care to everyone who can't afford it--a policy of every civilized nation on the planet (can you name any that don't have it?) is not just unconscionable, it is criminal. It is a foul stain on the honor of the Party of Abraham Lincoln.

And why? Spare me the arguments about its constituionality, how it will inevitable lead to the Gulag, the Death Panels, and all the other attempts to demagogue the uninformed. No, the reason for resistance to ANY form of socialized medicine in the US is very obvious. The Republicans are afraid that once we have any form of it here, as in Australia and many other places, they will be forever remembered as the party that tried to stop it. Instead, as in every single matter of public policy for over a century, they have insisted on the implementation of a system designed to maximize profits, minimize taxes, and keep workers docile and intimidated about losing their jobs.

“Those who can afford to purchase health care do not want to be taxed to subsidize those who can’t. Those who profit from the existing system are in no hurry to see anything about it change.”

It really is that simple.