Benefits. Overhead is cut, since there are no profits and no need for insurance marketing. Everyone is covered, with minimal paperwork. They do better on infant mortality because of better prenatal care (less expensive, and universally applied).
Problems. They have the same aging population and high cost procedures we do, and taxpayers foot the bill. This is part of the reason European tax rates are much higher than in the U.S. Thus, instead of HMOs deciding what is covered, the government does. Care would be rationed through delays, red tape and denial of care. Countries with government health care do worse on cancer survival because of less tests and advanced procedures. The lack of profit means less incentive to innovate. Doctors aren't paid as much, so the good ones want to work in the US.
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