To add to AKfish's list of things governments run, seemingly successfully, let's talk about Medicare: as a recently retired guy, the cost and availability of health care insurance is something much on my mind, and I have been following the arguements and trying to learn as much as I can (which is typical of things that affect us directly, right?) and Medicare seems to be doing a fairly good job, with about 3% going to administration, compared to private, for-profit insurance where about 30% seems to be going to overhead. Now, if they're in it for making money, that's fine, but when I can't afford it, I have to worry about how I can pay for some sort of insurance, and that's where Medicare comes in. I am aware of the complaints, but most of them stem from legislated coverages and special requirements. Here in Maryland, we have a lot of rich, plus a lot of very poor people, and health care is regulated more than in some states, probably due to the requirements of taking care of the un-insured, yet we seem to have good health care overall and the costs are under control. Of course, using shock-trauma emergency rooms for your primary care needs isn't very cost efficient, so we must being doing something right to offset that.
I am in favor of universal health care for the basics, with private insurance for those who can afford it in addition. The system we have now, at least in my understanding, is a costly mess with lots of problems, unless you have insurance thru your employer, which leaves way too many people without.
