re: "gas-brained hookah fantasy"
Single payer advocates stopped using England as their shining example some time ago. The system is breaking down, and spending twice what it was ten years ago, after correcting for inflation.
The French system is a lot more complicated than most people think, and like anyplace where services are divorced from price for the customer, is also suffering from skyrocketing costs.
I have a higher standard than "it works." Yugos work.