Haaaaa, no, I didn't think you were bitchy at all. :) I think it's a misunderstood subject; what gets my grinder going is when non-Americans call out our system without knowing the basics, particularly if their opinion is anecdotal--as you've pointed out, that's a dangerous jumping off point.

I think that, as in other areas, if we could only take the best of both systems and find a way to merge them, that would be optimal. In the U.S., though, anything that even has a whiff of the word 'socialized' attached to it is going to get quashed. I know many U.K./French folks shake their heads at this, but many Americans, particularly Republicans, believe that this issue, like many others, is none of the federal government's business. We're a republic, after all, not a democracy.