Single Payer Health Care

This is the best primer on single payer health care I've come across. Take a look if you have interest. I particularly like the answer to the question, "Isn't this socialized medicine?"

The author Gar Lipow cites the example of fire departments in large cities:

In the 19th century fire fighters in large cities were private companies; five or ten fire companies would race to be first to a conflagration. If two companies arrived at the same time, often they would fight - the winner having the privilege of trying to save any part of the building that remained unburned. This was a much more exciting way to fight fires than the dull government owned fire stations we have today. No doubt, the old private semi-piratical system encouraged entrepreneurship and innovation. But eventually cities just decided they preferred "socialized" firefighters. And, given the results we have compared to the results other nations have, I suspect that someday we will find we prefer "socialized" health insurance.