The point was that a nation with the health care system similar to what you advocate is trying to get to 18 weeks waiting time from the other side. And as far as "in the name of profit," have we already forgotten that the original post was about clipping people off waiting lists to save money? Hello?

I have no doubt you, like others here, can generate an enormous amount of anecdotes. Anecdotes are what people use who want to stay far away from hard numbers. I could barf out anecdotes all day long from nations like Britain and others with national health care. Oddly, those in America and elsewhere who get satisfactory medical care don't tend to interview reporters about it, so I'm not sure what anecdotes can prove at all. Polls state that a large majority of Americans are quite happy with the health care they personally are getting.

There are certainly problems with making sure people don't fall through the cracks in our society, and I have no argument against rational government programs targeted to this area (as though there aren't any already).

But nationalizing America's health care is the equivalent of burning a house down to get rid of mice in the attic.