[duncan_bayne]

> If it is a necessity (I think it is), it's not clear to me how it can not be compulsory.

But you wouldn't make that claim of any _other_ vital service, would you? Food, water, transport, medicine ... all these and more are provided by voluntary payment - or by charity for those who can't afford it.

What's special about Government that it requires compulsion to fund?

[vertex-four]

All those things are funded for at least some subset of the population, and heavily subsidised for the rest, by the Government. Also, I think it's pretty obvious that "voluntary payment" for healthcare didn't work for many, many people, and has resulted in thousands of deaths and significant needless pain and suffering every year.

[Angostura]

In that case you are arguing that taxation isn't necessary.