"A centrally funded health service, free at the point of delivery"

This public information film from 1948, when the British National Health Service was founded, is a timely reminder of what it's all about.

...the hunt for a better funding model is never called off, with each new foray unfolding along similar lines. It begins with the NHS being judged as seriously underperforming. The real reason for this, whether admitted by the government of the day or not, is because not enough money is being spent on it. Early in the hunt comes sightings of the "bottomless pit" of insatiable healthcare demands, quickly followed by assertions that substantial increases in healthcare spending are "unsustainable." When asked for their advice, economists tell politicians that a tax based system provides governments and patients with the best deal. As a sideshow to the main event are the hucksters, peddling their own funding models, hoping that some of the billions spent on the NHS might end up in their pockets, or those of their backers.

Tony Delamothe, BMJ 2008;336:1410-1412 (21 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.a292
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Here is an excerpt from Michael Moore's Sicko (2007).