the problem isn't why politicians don't get it, it's how to do it.
The conservatives have it gone, they don't give a damn about public health care, it costs way too much for not many results.
The only way to "reform" it is not necessarily to make people pay, but to literally "reform" or change how the system works. again the question is How, but it would take a complete systematic change, not just introducing fees.
One solution is to reform our public hospitals but also allow private hospitals to present themselves as options so people could decided to pay in full for their healthcare or risk waiting long for free health care.
My ideal system would be that we could let people choose either public or private, but i would never want to see a completely private system.
The best thing to do right now would be to start drawing up plans to change how our public system works without charging the public.