JOG and Serowbot,

there is one fundamental difference between the European Health System and the US Health System: HOSPITALS.

In Europe, hospitals were established as early as 400BC based on the Egyptian model in use as far as 3000BC+; I am not kidding you, all Greek cities had a hospital of sorts where the ill and the contaminated were invited - or commandeered - to go. They were run by the Temple Priests - medicine being considered not "magic" or "sorcery" but a "secret science" which only the Initiated were allowed to learn.
OK, odd, but the system worked.

Imperial Rome had a network of hospitals throughout the land.
Every single Legion had its Field Hospital with trained surgeons and medics.

In the Middle Ages... the first half, known as Dark Ages, you could knock at a Monastery and hope the local "herbiculturist" or "surgeon" would take a look at you under the Abbott's permission, but generally health care was limited to the wealthy, and the poor relied on local village herborists... which to the monks appeared as "witches" because they knew things unknown to the monks themselves...

Come the second half of the Middle Ages, after the Crusades and the Middle East experience of the Knights in shining armor... what had they seen, what had they learned? That in Jerusalem, the local Muslim rulers had implemented hospices for the ill and the contaminated, open to all, Pilgrims of all Faiths... (!!!)

So, soon, the Princes and Dukes openes Hospices in their own initiative back home, and since the 11th Century this was the rule in any major town or city in Europe; wherever you go, you will always find a hospice of sorts run by either the local Abbey or the local Prince.

So Hospitals today are PUBLIC because they either belong to the STATE or to the CHURCH.

So, what about the US ?

Firstly, I do not know if there are any "state" hospitals; I am aware of a few "County Hospitals" but are they really run by the County, or are they called such simply because they are the only hospital in said County?

Secondly, most hospitals bear names such as "Mt.Lebanon" or "1st Methodist" Hospital which means they were established not by the State or by the Church (meant as the global religious community) but by the local community, and having no State funds as such they MUST be run like a business.

In order for the State of... Connecticut (see, I can spell it!) to run a European-style Health System, it should first of all BUY major shares in ALL hospitals state-wide, in order to have a say in their Board of Directors and possibly more...
but...
...how much would this cost? Would such a REVOLUTION be acceptable to the tax-payer ?

I am afraid not.

So, what happens is that the current system will never be changed, other than ensuring that the ones with the lowest incomes be freed from the risk of having to die or remain crippled because they cannot afford specific treatment, and their insurance will coldly deny any form of funding.

See "The Rain Maker"