and in reality we have always had mostly socialized medicine here in Wa.
You mean Kaiser. Well, that is not exactly the kind of socialized medicine that limits the level of care that you receive, base on where you live. Is it? Living in Whatcom County, we had all the benefits and none of the draw backs, since we didn’t have a Kaiser hospital anywhere near here. It wasn’t until Obama took office that the doctors were persuaded to “follow the government guidelines” in order to receive bonuses.
I seem to remember that there was a scandal about that type of bonus at Kaiser in CA. Maybe it was everywhere, but I lived in CA at the time.