AKC, I know you're a very strong-minded individual, and you have very firm opinions about many things, particularly this country. I don't expect I will have much luck convincing you otherwise. All that I ask is that you try to look at the huge problem we have with an open mind rather than strong emotions.
I don't fully understand why you mix the concepts of universal coverage and high quality care. The fact that your friend went to a relatively poor country and got poor quality healthcare is entirely unrelated to the fact that the country has universal coverage. I have no illusions that, if I were in a relatively poor country, the quality of care I would receive there is necessarily any good, regardless of whether it's free. But the conclusion that the lousy quality care she received is somehow related to the fact that they have universal coverage is dubious at best, as is the notion that if this country adopted universal healthcare, the quality would somehow drop.
If you truly believe our nation's healthcare system is second to none, I ask only that you look at the information out there that suggests this is far from reality. Regardless, there is no possible way we can sustain the current model. We can't go on keeping our heads in the sand.
Universal coverage does not equal socialized medicine, nor does it necessarily spell the end of high quality healthcare.
Michael Moore's crap aside, there was an excellent program on Frontline recently which looked at five different nations around the world that offer universal coverage, excellent quality healthcare, short wait times, high patient satisfaction, and much much lower expenditures than the US. No system is without its issues, of course, but these are systems that work, and they work well. You can watch the whole thing online if you like, just click the "Watch Online" link.
I'll leave you with the final words of the program. You can decide for yourself if you just want to continue to ignore the problem.