Since the USA was downgraded, the remaining AAA-rated nations all have some kind of socialized health care:
Now that the USA no longer has a stellar AAA status, all remaining countries with AAA ratings have socialized medicine.
While reading this list, remember that our Health Care reform law was watered down after an uprising of Teapublicans marched into Washington screaming, holding misspelled signs — as if they knew more than the rest of the world.
AAA countries according to Standard & Poor’s:
Austrailia
Austria
Canada
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Guernsey
Hong Kong
Isle of Man
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Norway
Singapore
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
I currently have a dog in this hunt: due to some pre-existing conditions I'm considered uninsurable.
The only thing going for me right now is that I live in Michigan, which has an insurer of last resort in Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan. If no one else will cover me, they will, although with a 6 month pre-existing condition exclusion. This prospect is not horrible but still frightening: I have a family as well. If I were to continue my COBRA for the next 8 months or so (prohibitively expensive), then BCBS would take me on and waive the pre-existing condition clause. So I'm either out thousands of dollars or I take the risk that one of my conditions won't flare up for 6 months.
Republicans made great noises about the majority of people wishing to have the ACA repealed. What they always neglected to mention was that a good portion of the repealers felt that the ACA didn't go far enough and that it should be replaced with a single payer option.
I am personally grateful that my bout of uncertainty will come to an end in 2014 when the full ACA is implemented even though I would prefer single payer. As a result I am firmly in favor of keeping the ACA and at the most augmenting the law as it stands. Repeal is too dangerous; the law was hard enough to pass as it is.
Finally, as a small business entrepreneur I will also say that a lack of health care is a significant obstacle to quitting a corporate job and starting a new business. The more people who don't have to worry about health problems bankrupting them, the more businesses will start and grow in our country.
10:39 AM PT: For those of you voting to repeal and replace, what is your reasoning, and what strategy would you follow to ensure that we don't lose the reforms (such as pre-existing condition coverage) of the ACA completely?