Having listened to the news each and every day for years, I have
not heard of a 'national healthcare system'. There has been talk
of universal insurance coverage. This is not the same thing.

Thank you for understanding.

For the record, though. I do
not believe that universal insurance coverage is the way to go. I'm not
sure
what IS the way to go, and don't pretend that I do... but forcing health
insurance and it's payments on everyone is wrong. There are millions of
people that do not make enough money to pay for insurance, mandated or
not.
I've disliked Hillary Clinton since her husband's first term, when she was
trying to force everyone to buy health insurance. At the time, it would
have
cost me about $3000 a year in premiums, while I only made $9000 a year,
with
$4200 a year for rent plus more for food, gasoline, utilities, etc.. I
didn't have enough for savings as it was, let alone a spare $3G to give to
some HMO for coverage I didn't need. To date (I am 53 years old), I have
spent less than $9,000 on health care in my entire life.

You're fortunate. Had I not had insurance from my employer in 2006, I would
have died. (I have a rough idea of what Michael Terrel is going through.)
The total cost of my surgery, hospital fees, etc, was in the range of
$40,000. I paid abut $4500 in deductibles.

I see no ideal system to get health care to everyone. The system I would
like to see would have everyone -- individuals. businesses, the
government -- put money into big pot. Doctors, pharmacies, and other
providers would then simply bill the government.

I call this an "everyone pays, single pay-outer" system. It has obvious
problems -- but every system does.