A country of 320 million has a lot more cash flow than a country of 20 million. I don't think the population argument works. Bigger population = more taxes to work with. We are the richest country on Earth.
A smaller population with higher European tax rates is what allows socialized medicine to work in Europe and why it wouldn't work here.
Those European countries have high income taxes plus state and their equivalent of federal tax rates. All used to fund their Socialist way of life.
Outside of our corporate rates we don't have the extremely high confiscatory tax rates that Europe does and that would be needed in a country of 320 million to have single payer healthcare.
Now if you want to crank up our tax rates in individual income to about 45% across the board and implement say a 19% VAT tax on all goods people buy like countries like Germany have...then it might work.
But at the end of the day what the liberals talk about and what people think they are hearing are completely different.
Liberals talk about health insurance
coverage for everyone...not medical care for everyone. Nowhere in what they say do they guarentee medical care for what ails you. Even Obama brazenly admitted that during a speech.
And all people hear is "free" and they stop listening right there...and they miss the rest of what is being sold to them.
So you'll have health insurance...but that won't equate to getting treated in a timely manner if at all for what is wrong with you.
Got cancer and it's in Stage 3? in America right now you'll get the best care possible by a cancer doc to rid you of the cancer and help you to live a long and fruitful life for however long that might be depending on your age.
In the Obamacare/Socialized Medicine world...it's cheaper to "manage" the disease by giving you medicines to ease your pain as the cancer ravages your body and kills you.