I wrote a Wall Street Journal piece with Rep. Paul Ryan a few months ago, which in part warned about the dangers of socialized health care and mentions the British model. A friend of mine from the U.K. wrote back and said this:

To most British readers, your article’s reference to Great Britain and the supposedly deleterious effects of the NHS [National Health Service] upon the wider economy, will be distinctly puzzling, as the creation of the NHS is widely seen as probably the greatest development in post war Britain, providing incalculable benefits for the wider economy and social cohesion. It is telling that all political parties in the UK are committed to the principle of health care that is universally available and free at the point of use. If Americans could be personally exposed to the NHS …, what a beneficial transformation could be wrought upon the American body politic.

My sense is what he says it true, at least to this extent: NHS is quite popular in Britain, to the point many people within the Conservative party understand it would be a disaster to run against it. If that’s correct, it raises this question: If socialized heath care is so bad, why do the people who live under it find it so popular? I’m no expert on this, but those who are — including conservative health-care experts — have told me the NHS is, in fact, popular.

I’d be interested in the thoughts of fellow Cornerites on three specific matters: first, an empirical question, which is how popular NHS is; second, is David Cameron or any other leading Conservative politician running to undo the NHS; and third, if nationalized health care is as bad as we conservatives say, why isn’t there a groundswell in nations that have nationalized health care to undo it?

I’d welcome, and benefit from, the insights of others.