Most comparisons to other countries appear to be fear mongering for the most part. While you certainly hear the horror stories you rarely hear the positives, and speaking with many people in other countries over the years they're often very satisfied with their health care.
Besides, the US is a unique country and as such any health care reforms will probably not look exactly like a EU or Canadian model.
Most people have dramatically different views on this subject whether they have insurance or not. I know my father certainly had his eyes opened when his work sponsored retirement health care was cut and he they had to go on Medicare.
I agree that TORT reform is needed, and liked John Kerry's 2004 campaign idea to get malpractice cases into Federal courts. People complain about malpractice but remember the big corporations have used malpractice to snuff out the neighborhood doctor. Join my HMO or else
The simple fact is that living under a system where so many people have insurance (or taxpayer funded insurance) has allowed the system get incredibly expensive, without any incentive to streamline...and we have an aging population that's consuming a disproportionate amount of the services...and the AARP is a very big voting block.
I'm not for single payer systems, but I also recognize there's plenty of money in the system to improve it. The path we're currently on isn't sustainable even for those with good insurance.
-spence