It's just not doable. Every nation that does have a competent socialized medicine program like Canada, Germany, France, Norway, etc - have one thing in common. A tiny population.

Canada's population is 33 million people - that's it.
The state of California alone has 37 million! Then we have another 270 million after that.

Trying to implement national social services on that scale just doesn't work. The closest thing we have is the failing US postal system. Everything else is handled on state, county or city level.

There are 400 fish.

250 people - all can eat very well.
400 people - all can eat well.
800 people - all can eat.
1600 people - all can have a little but be malnourished.
3200 people - all will starve.

It's mathematical. 307 million people receiving health care for free will generate what? Let's say the average doctor visit costs 100 dollars - just for looking at you. For some minor services rendered that jumps to 500 dollars. Let's say every person gets one doctor visit per year with services rendered.

The bill?

153.5 billion dollars.

Now throw in the drugs and the operations and the treatments for just 10 percent of the US population (the population of Canada) and lets calculate that at a meager $5000 worth per year - which of course is fantasy land, but for our purposes it will do.

The bill?

another 150 billion dollars. So for 300 billion per year, covering only 1 visit per year and allowing for 10 percent of the nation who are really ill you can deliver some cheap socialized medicine.

With the total US revenue hovering around 2.4 trillion dollars that level of service (which would be dismal) would already consume about 12.5 percent of the yearly revenue. To provide the level of service delivered now including all the namebrand drugs and costly treatments would consume more than the entire US revenue. If the US abandoned every other activity and spent ALL revenue for healthcare - it still wouldn't be enough to pay for the services delivered now.

So it can't be free. Period. Someone - translated business - will have to pay through the nose for it. And since the government is involved it will then be wasted money, sponged by layers of bureaucrats and overseers who will tap this money for their livelihood. What will be delivered will make the current system look like utopia.

It will likely cost FAR more to deliver the same services as delivered now. And all those whose job is to deliver it will still want to be paid. So add to the doctors, nurses and druggists, a whole layer of bureaucrats and agencies whose operations are funded by taxpayer dollars. They will be first in line to tap this new gravytrain and the doctors, nurses etc will receive pay cuts.

What will this do?

Two things. Less people will seek careers in the medical field. The quality of those remaining will be subpar to the status quo.

This will have a chain reaction effect as the government then scrambles to "force" enough people into the medical profession because service time will go up by an order of magnitude as three times or more people will be seeking free assistance from LESS doctors and nurses.

It will be like watching a crowd crush itself to death in a mob as they rush the stage or an exit. The number who will suddenly seek out expensive health care will triple - and that doesn't even include the likely 110 million people in Mexico that will find their way to being treated at US taxpayer expense.

Desperation of the few who aren't getting treated now and who can't afford insurance is real. The solution is a public program to pick up these folks - say 30 million or so - not a full blown conversion to socialized medicine. That's all we really need and all this nation can afford.

Because our nation only generates so much wealth, and because you can only loot wealth so much before a business collapses, this current plan is total suicide for the average American who wants a good paying job and live to retire and to collect his/her social security checks.