^Difference between what European countries have and what the United States has is population. People need to understand no matter how much all you Europeans call us idiots for not implementing various policies you guys have, it is not as simple as doing a simple policy change. You can blame it on the Government, voters, economy, you can blame it on any variable factor. But it really comes down to population.
The population issue has two thorns that cause the issue. The first is simple, how does one make a policy that can make it viable for the majority, if not the entire population? You have all seen first hand with Obamacare what the Government can try to do. They can shut it down, filibuster, try to impeach, the list goes on. How do you think a total socialization of the US Healthcare system would go over? If you payed any attention to Obamacare, I imagine you have a good idea. Now, you need to realize that obviously the US population is not entirely the liberals and Tea Party that is portrayed on TV. Most actually, are the important swing votes between the two that all candidates want. How would you manage to convince MILLIONS of these swing votes that a socialized health system is a good idea? I dont see it happening. Obamacare was tough enough, a total overhaul of the health system, way too drastic.
The second issue is the management of the sick and needy if the system was to theoretically pass.You could not make healthcare a universal policy within the United States simply because we are too big and do not have enough doctors to cope with the millions of issues that could come in per day. There would be such an influx of lawsuits of patient negligence it would be absurd. Cannot argue that the United States is not a haven for such lawsuits. When the proof is on the defense, lawsuits that sue large corporations/governments the plaintiff will have nothing to lose. I dont foresee that changing within the US either. To change the supply in doctors, you need to change the education system. That probably will not happen either. Doctors, within the US, have to spend upwards of 600,000 just on education alone. Thats undergraduate, graduate, then doctoral work. Whats the point of spending that if all that is going to happen is a lowering of wages that makes it harder to pay off student debt.
TL;DR
There is no perfect X+Y=Universal Healthcare option within the US. Its a F(G,P,S/D,E,L...)=Universal Healthcare where G=Govt P=population, S/D=Supply and Demand, E=Education, and L=Lawsuits where some are directly related to Universal Healthcare and some are inversely related. It wont happen within the US. Not anytime soon.
