What is the difference between socialized medicine and single-payer healthcare?

Question

From my understanding, socialized medicine is when the government runs all aspects of healthcare: the funding, hiring, and managing of all work in hospitals. Single-payer just requires the government to fund public healthcare but hospitals would remain independent and privately owned and managed. Do you agree? What can you add?

I know people will hastily comment that these two systems are the same and will result in communism and so on. Please. Every other industrialized country has some form of government managed healthcare that is drastically more significant than the anarchy of the US system (you get what can, which is just harsh and subtle chaos).

Answer 1

They're kind of indefinite terms, so its hard to equate them confidently.

But yeah, they are essentially the same.

Yeah, the US is abit paranoid about communism and socialism.

And we're suffering with poor, inefficient healthcare accordingly.

You're going to see a lot of rants about how communism is bad, but most of the ranters are simply repeating what their parents have told them. Pure Communism and Socialism are not workable systems, and quickly devolve into some power-based government that would be deplored by Marx, but most of the people who rant haven't read Marx and don't understand the base concepts - only that it doesn't work and the resulting failed governments were some of the most dangerous ever on the planet.

Socialism doesn't work. Pure Capitalism is outright cruel.

We're looking for something in between, and yes, socialized medicine is a logical reasonable response - especially based on other country's success with it.

And for all those who complain about lines ... you ever waited for emergency care in a big American hospital? The care under single-payer is as good, and accessible to everybody.

Answer 2

They are so similar, however, with single-payer, since some aspect of the system (hospitals) are independent and privately managed, then it at least leaves one area with competition. Competition inspires growth, innovation, and research. There needs to be an incentive for health care providers to provide the best care possible...with government-run care, you lose competition, therefore you lose innovation and development, and quality of care, consequentially. Our system may not be perfect, but I would much rather do this than have to wait for months or years on end to see a doctor or get elective surgery. Take the drug companies, for instance. If they were not in competition to provide new, innovative drugs all the time, then they would lose a big motivation for research and development. Socialized medicine is not the answer, just like true socialism is not the answer. The US is not scared of socialism...we just know that it doesn't work!

Answer 3

There is socialized medicine and there is SOCIALIZED medicine. Most foreign plans don't go as far as you think. Moreover, signal-payer doesn't imply that the government funds public health-care. Moreover, it's easy to criticize socialized medicine, since some of the aspects of it would alarm us. If it takes someone in Canada 6 months to get some surgery scheduled, why are people demanding that we take advantage of Canada's drug prices (which are provided for its population, which is 1/10th of ours?

The real weak point seems to be emergency room-type care. People without health insurance use the emergency room as their front line of health, and get charged more, which often is not collected or winds up being paid by the Federal or State Government. I think a good way to help matters, which has not been advanced, is to require any doctor who has obtained any funds from the Federal Government for education to agree to serve four years service, to be credited and PAID as military service, as a doctor in clinics.

Answer 4

Yes. These reforms are not about socialised medicine. It is about making every American getting cover with health insurance. But then I know the facts on this as opposed to so many who have fallen for the lies and half truths of the right. FACT - Insurance companies in the USA admit to pushing up prices, buying politicians and not paying out claims when they should [a] FACT - PER PERSON the USA spends more on healthcare than any other nation on the planet [b] FACT - Obama debated his plans before the election for healthcare [c] FACT - the chance of a child under five of dying in the USA is greater than industrialised nations with universal health coverage [d] FACT - Obama was elected to bring in change [e] FACT - Obama wants to stop insurance companies screwing the American people [f] FACT - The reforms Obama wants work in the Netherlands and in Switzerland [g] If anyone can prove the facts above are wrong, e-mail me and let me know.

Answer 5

In the current system we have believed that if we pay into insurance they will insure us.

The insurance companies have found every way to get out of paying leaving millions uninsured. Hillary called it cherry picking.

The true answer was in Hillary's speech the government needs to hold the insurance companies to specifications that are good for all the people.

1 thing she intends to implement will be everyone must be insured. This is the area the government will step in and provided shortfalls.

2. The insurance companies will not be allowed to charge outragouse fees to the sick for being insured. When the cost of health care is spread over every American the amount per person evens out.

The insurance companies for years have been excluding this that and the other thing. To the point no one sick is insured and the money they receive is all handed over to stock holders. The sick are tossed out and into government run medicaid insurance.

My daughter has not been insured with out state and federal backing since birth she was born with scoliosis and other health problems. My husband after paying in to health insurance all his life was dropped in accordance with insurance and lawful rule 2 months after heart surgery. Now they have dropped me for only having migraines. Hows that for proof.

Answer 6

We already have a single payer plan that covers people over 65. It is called Medicare.and it pays over 1/4 of health care cost.

Answer 7

in the long run, the power to determine price is everything.

and single-payer systems determine how much the medical provider will be paid for doing anything.

Answer 8

Socialized would be like governemnt aid, national healthcare(which we dont have) but canadians etc,,, do. welfare is another one. Single payer is when the individual must pay

Answer 9

Agreed. But either system isn't my preferred system.

Answer 10

None. Both are Commie Care. The word single payer is just a lie phrase for Commie Care.