In The United Kingdom It's Better To Be a Dog

1.In the UK, Dogs get to choose their veterinarian through their owner while people don't get to choose their doctor
2. Vets will see a dog the same day that they are called, while people have often have to wait weeks to months.
3. Dogs can have medical tests and surgeries performed within a couple of days if not the same day as the first visit while people have long delays often stretching from months to years.
4. There is no rationing of surgeries or medications based upon age of the dog while a bureaucracy decides which people are allowed to have certain surgeries or medications.
5. The family of a dog can be assured that the dog is getting the best treatment available while the families of sick or injured people can feel that the system is cheating them for cost reasons or showing favor to some other group of patients.
The big catch is that dogs get treated in a competitive private health care system, which even includes insurance for those that wish to but it, while the people are treated in a government-run, single-payer system that appears to be free at the point of service. (The preceding was brought to my attention in a full article in the WSJ, August 8-9,2009.)
It is naive to believe that the health care system for people is free; people pay for it in taxes of various sorts, some not even appearing as directly related to health care. If the government uses 'borrowed money", that is deficit spending, then people also pay for health care through inflation which decreases the overall purchasing power of their money. So, free health care at the time of service is an allusion; it's not real, but some fall for this government marketing ploy.
This is what we are in store for with ObamaCare. This is the "Change you Can Believe In" although Obama neglected to explain all of this to you as a candidate and now as President. Instead, he lies about what is in store for you with ObamaCare.