Then you aren't really supporting the old US system. Either you implied that it comes from insurance companies, or your statement is a non-sequitur because the profit-based system for hospitals is also present in other countries and is not really relevant anyway. A hospital is not exactly considered to be a single financial institution, especially when they are so many companies involved in the healthcare business.

You've never lived under a single payer system, have you? Doctors are very generously paid in the UK and come out with far less debt than a US medical student does. If a doctor went into healthcare just for a large salary, I don't think they're likely to be a very good doctor. The salary is there because to become a doctor requires years of specialist training, having no life, working obscenely long shifts and so forth. You have to pretty committed to be a doctor, and there are far easier fields to get better paid in. Finance, for instance.

[quote]As for single-payer not fixing it. If we went single-payer I can guarantee you that you would see a mass exodus of doctors.[/quote] And where would these doctors go exactly? To other countries with UHC overseas? A mass exodus of people becoming willingly unemployed? [quote]A lot of doctors go into the healthcare industry for the large salaries and abilities to manage their own practices.[/quote] Doctors are still highly paid overseas. In my country, doctors and/or surgeons more often than not receive greater pay than certain parliamentary MPs. (Barring newcomers.) [quote]abilities to manage their own practices.[/quote] Elaborate. Doctors in NZ easily make about 2x the average worker's pay after 2-3 years in the practice. Surgeons and specialists will get 3x to 4x after a few years as well. They are all extremely rich after a few years in the practice.