My guess is Andy is not unhinged at all on this topic. He grew up with the NHS and was probably mystified at first by the American system.

Too bad we didn't bet some money on that. As a matter of fact, Andy hates socialized medicine precisely because he grew up with the NHS.

This is anecdotal, just one event, but I experienced the NHS first hand and it left me with a good impression of collective health care. While working in Manchester I had a medical issue that needed attention. I did not have a doctor there and my American insurance card was as useful as dancing shoes in a nunnery. Although I wasn't even an English citizen (no no no, we're not going there) I was given an appointment for the next day and the problem was fixed. Cost: zero.

Actually, the cost was not zero. It cost the UK tax payers plenty. Just because you didn't have to pay anything doesn't mean that it didn't cost someone else. That is the problem with socialism - eventually you run out of other people's money.

I have heard your story before - maybe you don't remember telling it up here. And I have also told you the story of the knee surgery that Andy required back in 1998. If he had not had private insurance, he would have had to live with the excruciating pain for nearly a year because it was not "life-threatening". Fortunately, he had private insurance, so he was able to get it done. So you see, they have a double whammy in the UK with the NHS - exhorbitant taxation to pay for it and they still need private insurance to get anything done in a timely fashion.