Some other countries make it work. Other other countries have health care systems that are way worse than the U.S.

So: it's good to know that things are different in other countries, but it doesn't actually address the point I was trying to make.

Of course single-payer works if we imagine that things in the U.S. are different from the way they actually are. Lots of things work that way.

I'm not aware of any countries where that specific aspect, choosing which drugs are available, has become politicised and toxic.

I agree that the two-party adversarial politics in the US is poison though, and causes a whole lot of "this is why we can't have nice things" moments.

> Of course single-payer works if we imagine that things in the U.S. are different from the way they actually are

That's a fantastic argument for changing the way things are in the U.S. It happens one vote at a time.