There is a middle ground here. It is possible to provide universal healthcare without dismantling private markets under the guise of calling it a public good. The Swiss do it (and at a cost lower with better quality than the Canadian or American systems) - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/health/policy/01swiss.html.... What is increasingly clear however, is that there are a number of models like the Canadian one which are increasingly unsustainable and unwieldy.
