I agree about the frequent use of the tactic of making government dysfunctional to persuade people that they don't want to pay the taxes necessary to expand government services, but that tactic probably isn't going away. You can thank people like Grover Norquist who really, really want taxes lowered.

Also, something to keep in mind with fully socialized medicine is it would almost certainly reduce doctor pay, because the government would have almost all the leverage in pricing. I know some doctors in France well, they're extremely poorly paid compared to doctors in the same practice in the US.

And if you squeeze doctor salaries too much, what fraction of would-be doctors are going to decide that they don't want to go through the hassle and expense of medical school?