and they have no choice,they have to take whatever the government gives them. I believe waiting for hours at your local pharmacy just to get a prescription is the norm in some countries because they are government run? At least from the Europeans I've talked with. That is just the pharmacy, I can only imagine how efficiently the more complex operations are run.

They are in awe when I tell them it takes me maybe 2-5 minutes. I get my drugs from the drive through after they've called me to let me know my prescription is ready, because they gave me a courtesy call to tell me that they estimate my prescription is running low and ask if I would like them to fill it for me to be picked up anytime until 9pm. If I walk in on a new handwritten prescription that couldn't be sent over electronically from the doctor, I might wait 10-15 minutes from the time I gave them the prescription until it's ready. I pay $3 out of pocket for it. This is at a choice of one of 8 different pharmacies within a 5 kilometer radius of my house, and I live near farms.

Talking with an ignorant European who looks down his/her nose is like talking with an American who thinks "Europe is a country"

Seriously though, Europeans should still be aware they still pay for their education and healthcare, they just have to do it or go to jail (aka what happens when you don't pay your taxes) even if they don't use it. If you're dirt poor or just incredibly unhealthy with pre-existing conditions, government sponsored health care and education is nice, but if you aren't in that minority and actually make a decent amount of money, government options are the last thing you want. I agree that people who have pre-existing conditions and who are dirt poor need options or at least some bare minimum available to them.

Rising healthcare costs is mostly alarmism generated by baby boomers getting old and not understanding that yes, you get old healthcare costs more. It's the same for everyone, and sadly baby boomers vote so they want the government to pay for it and it's a sudden issue. Many young people don't get health insurance (which normally helps even out the risk for insurance companies) because it simply isn't a priority amongst all the other things they want to buy, and they'd rather have that money for something else because they think it's not worth it until the day they get really sick or seriously injured, then suddenly their healthcare is really expensive. Really, it's just bad planning on their part. A lot of them have squandered their retirement or haven't bothered saving because they thought SS replaced retirement rather then being just a bare minimum.

Also, we don't pay for education in primary schools, its merely higher education, but even then there are state and locally funded colleges, universities and two year trade schools with lower tuition costs paid for partially by taxes. Traditionally, this gives students a more affordable option and for those who can get scholarships a practically free education. Although, sadly the government has been siphoning more and more funds from those institutions raising tuition costs to a point there is negligible difference between them and private institutions in cost, and the number of student loans kids are taking out dramatically which they aren't able to pay back unless they are making lots of money immediately which is incredibly unlikely in a slow economy having no experience.