What do Americans agree on across party lines?

Nope private healthcare exists exactly as in the US, if you wish to purchase it you can, you can go to a private hospital in a private ambulance and be seen by a private doctor.When I was working for a large private company I had private medical insurance as a perk of the job and had some treatment done. My conclusion was that I was called sir a lot more, and the food was miles better (NHS food is awful!) and I had a room of my own. Being a Socialist I naturally preferred being on a ward with the rest of the great unwashed! Later as senior management we voted to have cash rather than private health care.
So there is choice but in some ways you do pay twice (although the fact that doctors and nurses have generally been trained by the NHS means it is cheaper than it would be). Really you have a choice if you can persuade your fellow voters to abolish the NHS but it will never happen in my lifetime.

 

This is where you are wrong and a misconception held my many Americans against universal healthcare. It's not like wanting a car but the only car you can buy is a Trabant.

Australia for example government run universal healthcare runs parallel with private health insurance and the choice of private health insurance companies is pretty comprehensive. So insurance companies are very competitive. Also the nice thing about Medicare (universal healthcare) there's no pre-existing illness clause.

Most Australians are privately insured plus having access to Medicare. Privately insured Australians can pick and choose what services they want and need insured,, whether it being dental, physio, ambulance, dietary etc. This keeps the cost of private health insurance down. Going to your local GP, emergency or hospital, most Australians hand over their Medicare card. Dentist for example the patient will be privately covered. I doubt Australians buy 'throw the blanket over everything' health insurance.

 

Employers in Australia don't supply health insurance for employees. It does happen but as you say a perk of the job or maybe to attract upper level management, but for 'workers' no. There is no need as nearly all Australians are covered under Medicare.

For the organisations I've worked my employers have organised group discounts from healthcare insurance companies but we paid for our own. I only took ambulance cover which is not covered under Medicare.

 

The Democrats and Republicans both believe in authoritarian statism to maintain their power.

That is all.

 

Thanks to the Marxist Inquisition of the Frankfurt School, virtually nothing anymore. Beginning around World War II, a small group of dickhead communists worked tirelessly to undermine everything good, wholesome, and successful about America. Things that both parties used to recognize and agree upon to at least some degree but today which have been marginalized to only the Republican party. Over the last 50 years, the Democratic party has been systematically reconstructed to deliberately and relentlessly oppose everything the right stands for. Thus common ground no longer exists on much of anything. And whatever is left now is purely by accident.

 

Yes, it really is too bad that right cannot seem to muster enough Faith in Capitalism, even with an official Mint at our disposal, with which to run massive federal budget surpluses, in the name of making more money under any form of Capitalism.

 

Americans, left, right, and middle agree on supporting the Rublican-Democrat two party system, which in effect negates everything on which they disagree. The results have been shown to be the same no matter which party controlls the government; yet the two major parties have conviced Americans of vast imaginary differences, lest an inspired voter "waste" their vote on a third party.