My tax rate is ~25%, ~1.5% of my paycheck goes toward insurance, and I have a $30 co-pay for office visits and a $1,500 deductible. If I go to the doctor twice a year, I spend a total of about $300/year on healthcare alone. I have middle-of-the-road insurance, so there are better rates than mine if you pay 3% or so. The difference between American insurance and European insurance is that a catastrophe will put me back about $3,000 whereas in Europe, it'd be little to nothing.

Is the American system economically fair? Not at all...unless you don't need major medical care, which is most of the population at any given time. My point is that, while I may pay more at one time for medical care, over my lifetime I will have payed much less than if I had been taxed at a higher rate in order to subsidize universal healthcare.

This isn't a moral argument for or against subsidized healthcare (I actually support it), but speaking economically per individual, the American system works better for most people, definitely not all. I just hate the term "free healthcare" because it doesn't account for the increased taxes that cover its cost.

As for American education, that shit's fucked up.