Try saying 'American Dream' with your mouth closed

Every July in Wise, Virginia, a free dental field clinic treats 2-3000 of the 47 million Americans without healthcare, a miracle of almost Biblical proportions. That's right: approximately one in five Americans have no access to a dentist or doctor because they can't afford private healthcare.

President Obama has now joined the ranks of those brave - and they do need to be - politicians who want to take on the vested interests of the health insurance companies, who in contrast to the warm, caring images in their publicity, go to considerable trouble in their small print to ensure payouts are avoided as often as possible. Examples include cancelling a woman's mastectomy because a previous attack of acne had been mistakenly described by her dermatologist as 'pre-cancerous' and so the patient could be said to have lied about her medical history.

You'd be amazed, therefore, to hear that many Americans oppose free healthcare. Clean teeth and chemo for all: what's not to like? But it would spell financial ruin, or vastly reduced profits anyhow, for the insurance firms whose lobbyists do a brilliant carrot and stick job by filling campaign coffers and scaring people with images of filthy, rundown state facilities. But surely, you say, all they have to do is come over and look at our marvellous NHS. But they don't. Even many Americans who actually live here go private, believing the alternative to be a ‘Third World’ service for the poor and desperate, not the remarkable system most of us use throughout our lives. That’s the power of the private health insurance lobby.

So, Mr President: you know what you need to do. Our amazing doctors and nurses will be glad to show you around.