As a physician, I will tell you that the ever-increasing presence of government involvement in medical care has driven up the cost dramatically.
Whereas previously the number of non-producers (i.e. administrators) to caregivers was very small, that ratio has now inverted and the administrators in many instances outnumber those who provide medical care. They all have salaries that need to be paid in addition to the salaries of those who actually do the work. There is layer upon layer of government regulatory agencies dictating medical care and, of course, this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle requiring new administrators to oversee the implementation of these grand ideas.
At the same time, physicians are being forced to sell their practices and become hospital employees. Medicine has become big business run by administrators without an ounce of understanding of medicine. I could go on and on, but suffice to say that the whole system is a mess and will only get worse as the government continues to force their way deeper and deeper into the system.
Tell me anything the government administrates that operates efficiently and cost effectively. Why anyone would want the government running anything as important as health care is beyond me. I have yet to meet anyone, physician or patient, who prefers socialized medicine over the system we had here.
The leaders in government push for socialized medicine knowing they themselves will never be subject to it. Even in nations that have such a system, there are two types of health care. One for the rich and one for everyone else. If you think access to health care is bad here, do your homework. It may look good in theory but it doesn't play out well in those systems. If you want health care COST to go down, get government out of health care. If you want the care, you receive to continue to go down, keep pushing for universal health care.
First time in American history no will mean no. You're 75 years old; you smoke and need major surgery. You will be told no. You mean you won't perform the surgery and I need to go to another hospital. No, it means no. You mean I will have to pay for it myself. No the answer is no. If you do find a doctor to perform the surgery, he or she is in violation of the law, as are you. This is the Canadian system.