No wonder your liberal friends look at you with a blank stare,

Is it that painful to you to be confronted with the FACT that all western democracies are socialist to one degree or another?

There is no political support to implement more measures than I presented. SS and Medicare are a no brainer.

As for 'single payer'?

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Patients would no longer face financial barriers to care such as co-pays and deductibles, and would regain free choice of doctor and hospital.
Doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

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What is Single Payer?
http://www.pnhp.org/facts/what-is-single-payer

Single-payer national health insurance, also known as “Medicare for all,” is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands. Under a single-payer system, all residents of the U.S. would be covered for all medically necessary services, including doctor, hospital, preventive, long-term care, mental health, reproductive health care, dental, vision, prescription drug and medical supply costs.

The program would be funded by the savings obtained from replacing today’s inefficient, profit-oriented, multiple insurance payers with a single streamlined, nonprofit, public payer, and by modest new taxes based on ability to pay.

Premiums would disappear; 95 percent of all households would save money. Patients would no longer face financial barriers to care such as co-pays and deductibles, and would regain free choice of doctor and hospital. Doctors would regain autonomy over patient care.

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