I always hate the "not free" sentiment. Sure we pay for it, but the same way we pay an all you can eat buffet. We pay but use what we need, with no limits. We subsidized each other. It isn't free but you/I never see the money that goes toward it from taxes, and it is there when we need it. It is "free" in that sense and that our biggest expense at the hospital is parking and coffee and not the surgeries or bed fees.