This is a tough one for me, Selchie. We in the US have this idea of personal freedom that if we want to buy something, or do something, with our own money, then everybody else better get out of the way.
To continue your analogy with cars, it's the idea that "if I want to drive a hummer, and I want to spend my money that way (on 8 MPG gas) then that's my choice." But increasingly I am coming to the point of view that it is NOT okay for someone to drive a Hummer and whether they can afford it is irrelevant.
We collectively make decisions that limit behavior in other ways e.g. the curtailing of public smoking. The same could and should be done for gas guzzlers IMHO. And... here's the leap... if private insurance undermines the public system - and I believe that it most likely does - it should be a road that a country doesn't even go down. If a person is wealthy enough there's no way to stop them from getting the treatment. They can always fly to the US (and many other countries) and pay cash on the barrel. Otherwise stay in the system and, if need be, work to make it better.
One of the things that I was looking forward in NZ is experiencing a working national healthcare system. The idea that it is being undermined bothers me. Lord knows the US of A has proven that the capitalist way doesn't work wonders in healthcare. We spend 15% of GDP on it and look at the uninsured and uncovered, look at:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...d/4554910.html
Aren't I going to be disappointed when I get to NZ and see the hummers there too?