--and fought elections on ---health insurance, gas, wages, social security ---they'd win in landslides.

A national health plan is COMMUNISM!!!, according to the GOP. For 45 years, the GOP has been telling Proles "throw your neighbor under the bus, and maybe you'll get a tax cut", and the idiot Proles have believed them.

If the US adopted the sort of system used in western Europe, "JCs" would not be "burdened" by offering health insurance to their staff. Health care providers would not be "burdened" by needing to provide care to people they know can't pay. Taxpayers would not be "burdened" by paying for fifty separate Medicaid programs.

from the net sifter:

If the U.S. adopted a French-style system, it would likely cut total health care spending by several hundred billion dollars annually, and reduce the U.S. government’s share of NHE from ~31% to ~10–15% (France’s level). The exact dollar amount depends on population size, wage levels, and cost-of-living, but the savings would be substantial — potentially $200–$500 billion per year in reduced premiums, out-of-pocket costs, and administrative overhead.

But, insurance companies are nothing but a pile of money being used to buy government policy. So, a national health plan is demagogued as "COMMUNISM", by their bought mouthpieces who write public policy.

Steve