For a Healthier Nation Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and other European countries are social democracies. They are capitalist but with strong protections for the people. All residents have access to medical care; they have universal healthcare. (In the US, Medicare for All is proposed but yet to be accepted.) These Europeans are free people and they enjoy personal liberties. Food and housing are priorities, and far fewer people go hungry or live on the streets. US politicians and pundits—bought and paid for by the big drug companies and insurers who want no limits on their greed—tell us that socialism is evil. They tell us: “You can’t have universal healthcare because it’s too expensive. And if you help the needy, they get lazy.” A two-row table compares lifespans and healthcare costs between the US and Norway. In the US the average life span is about 79.25 years. In Norway, it's 83.6 years. In the US, healthcare costs about $14,855 per person. In Norway, the figure is $8,800. The fact is the people in countries with universal healthcare are healthier. They are not “lazy.” People live longer, and it’s less expensive than the healthcare for profit system that puts so many Americans into deep debt and lets people die when they can’t afford medical care.