Socialized medicine

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The term socialized medicine is used to describe publicly administered health care systems. Some examples include the health care systems run by the national governments of the United Kingdom and Canada.

Contents 1 Types of socialized medicine 1.1 Single-payer health care 1.2 Two tier or hybrid systems 2 Relation to universal health care 3 History of the term 4 See also 5 Notes and references

[edit] Types of socialized medicine

[edit] Single-payer health care

Main article: Single-payer health care

Single-payer health care is a system in which one entity, such as a government, pays all costs of health care for all members of a group. This requires wealth redistribution through taxes. Single-payer health care relies on government control and rationing.

[edit] Two tier or hybrid systems

This system attempts to have both socialist and capitalistic principles. It requires the same heavy taxes as single-payer health care, but tries to reduce the demand for health care by having patients pay for some of their health care directly.

[edit] Relation to universal health care

Main article: Universal health care

Universal health care is typically an effect of socialized medicine, but they are not the same. Universal health care is a state in which health care is provided to every person in a society.

The main difference is that with universal health care, everyone has health care, which may or may not be administered by the government. In socialized medicine systems, the government controls the health care industry.

[edit] History of the term

The term began as a somewhat pejorative phrase first popularized in 1920s and 1930s United States politics by conservative opponents of publicly operated health care, proposed during the administration of US President Franklin Roosevelt and later championed by US Senator Spessard Holland of Florida, Sen. Estes Kefauver of Tennessee and many more.^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} Organizations that generally oppose expansion of government services still tend to use the phrase in that way.^{[5] [6]} However, others have pointed out that the US government already operates public health care.^[7] That approach to health care is provided by US Veterans Administration clinics and hospitals to former members of US military services.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Publicly-funded health care
• Health care system
• Health care politics
• Medicaid
• Medicare
• Social health insurance
• Public health

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ A brief background is provided by Linda F. Golodner (December 4, 1997). Address to the Korean Pharmaceutical Association. National Consumer Affairs League. See the section "History of American Health Reform Efforts."
2. ^ Morris Fishbein (April 25, 1928). Socialized Medicine. The Nation 127(3277).
3. ^ William Harvey (December, 1938). What is Socialized Medicine?. New International 4(12), pp. 369-372.
4. ^ Articles critical of Morris Fishbein and the American Medical Association show intensity and polarization associated with this topic.
5. ^ Michael Tanner (September, 1996). A Hard Lesson About Socialized Medicine. Cato Institute.
6. ^ John Goodman (Winter, 2005). Five Myths of Socialized Medicine. Cato Institute.
7. ^ Timothy Noah (March 8, 2005). The Triumph of Socialized Medicine. Slate.
8. ^ For comparison of the largely private US health care system with the public health care system of Canada, see Joan Price Boase (1994). Shifting Sands: Government-Group Relationships in the Health Care Sector. McGill-Queen's University Press.