The Moment: London

Demonstrators tend to march in discontent, so when a crowd gathers to applaud a government policy it's worth taking notice. At a small rally outside the U.S. embassy in London on Aug. 19, activists stood under a banner that read: "Go for it America Our National Health Service is a blessing for all."

As America debates healthcare reform, Britons — and Europeans more widely — have rediscovered how much they love their state-backed health services. Britain's National Health Service (NHS) is a rare example of truly socialized medicine, with universally available treatment administered by the government and funded by the taxpayer. As such, it has become the target of criticism from opponents of President Barack Obama's efforts to introduce greater state involvement in health care, with accusations of "Orwellian" administrators setting a price on life, and doctors abandoning elderly patients to die.

But while Britons love to complain about the NHS, they remain fiercely protective of its existence. A "We Love the NHS" Twitter campaign has received thousands of messages of support, including one from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose eyesight was saved by doctors after a rugby accident as a young man. Conservative opposition leader David Cameron, whose disabled son died earlier this year, also confirmed his commitment to the service.

The demonstrators outside the embassy were a ragtag bunch. Their rank included cancer survivors, unemployed tradesmen and an elderly woman too wobbly to manage both a protest placard and a cane — in short, precisely the people socialized health care is designed to save. Jon Burden, whose wife's breast cancer is in remission, said he wanted critics to know that "without the NHS either my wife would be dead or I would be broke."

Americans opposed to Obama's plan say it will threaten their existing coverage. Like your health itself, a functioning health-care system is one of those things that you only truly value when it's under threat.