THE EVIDENCE
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman proposed a national health insurance for Americans bur was quick to point out that “Socialized medicine means that all doctors are employees of the Government. The American people want no such system. No such system is here proposed” (Geyman). As was stated earlier, presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have grappled with the idea of providing affordable healthcare for all Americans, while staying as far away from the ‘socialism’ word as possible. In reality, socialized medicine is government run and controlled. Hospitals are owned by the government and doctors are employees of the state. The healthcare programs are financed by taxation and all citizens have access to quality healthcare. Geyman explains that in the United States, “Our own Veterans Administration (VA) has already qualified for many years as an example of socialized medicine, with ownership by the government of facilities and employer of health professionals.” While many opponents of socialized medicine are critical of the VA and would like to privatize it, Geyman continues, “Privatization would bring less efficiency, higher costs, restricted services, and new overhead costs and profits, not improved health care for veterans.” In his book The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition….Socialism, Washington correspondent John Nichols argues that our country was founded on a “radical interpretation of enlightenment ideals” which enabled the fledgling United States to provide many services for its citizens. These ideals led to “progressive reforms” such as the New Deal and the Fair Deal. Nichols contends that the political rhetoric that exists in today’s society has led to a “dumbed-down” debate on healthcare. He reasons that the U.S. does not have to embrace a socialist ideology to incorporate socialized medicine in this country (Geyman).
In 1945, President Harry S. Truman proposed a national health insurance for Americans bur was quick to point out that “Socialized medicine means that all doctors are employees of the Government. The American people want no such system. No such system is here proposed” (Geyman). As was stated earlier, presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have grappled with the idea of providing affordable healthcare for all Americans, while staying as far away from the ‘socialism’ word as possible. In reality, socialized medicine is government run and controlled. Hospitals are owned by the government and doctors are employees of the state. The healthcare programs are financed by taxation and all citizens have access to quality healthcare. Geyman explains that in the United States, “Our own Veterans Administration (VA) has already qualified for many years as an example of socialized medicine, with ownership by the government of facilities and employer of health professionals.” While many opponents of socialized medicine are critical of the VA and would like to privatize it, Geyman continues, “Privatization would bring less efficiency, higher costs, restricted services, and new overhead costs and profits, not improved health care for veterans.” In his book The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition….Socialism, Washington correspondent John Nichols argues that our country was founded on a “radical interpretation of enlightenment ideals” which enabled the fledgling United States to provide many services for its citizens. These ideals led to “progressive reforms” such as the New Deal and the Fair Deal. Nichols contends that the political rhetoric that exists in today’s society has led to a “dumbed-down” debate on healthcare. He reasons that the U.S. does not have to embrace a socialist ideology to incorporate socialized medicine in this country (Geyman).
While countries such as England and France are examples of socialized medicine at work, other countries, such as Canada and Sweden, offer a form of universal healthcare called single payer. “Under a single payer system, health insurance is administered by the government, which serves as the ‘single payer’ for health services on behalf of its citizens, who are taxed for it based on their ability to pay” (MacDonald). In the single payer system, hospitals and doctors are still privatized but are under the umbrella of the government. MacDonald also notes that in our country, we have a “limited version of single payer called Medicare.” Many advocates of universal care look at single payer as the most advantageous for the United States. The “18,000 members of the Physicians for a National Health Program, a nonprofit research and education organization of doctors, are strongly advocating for a single payer solution” (MacDonald). Additionally, MacDonald explains that single payer would be funded by a progressive health care tax. Essentially, those who can afford it will pay more. No longer will patients have copays, deductibles, or premiums. Medical networks would disappear while consumers are still able to choose their own hospital and doctor. And because the government oversees this process, medical costs will be kept under control.
The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is the current healthcare system in the United States. In 2009, when President Obama addressed his new program, he said, “I want to cover everybody. Now, the truth is that, unless you have what’s called a single payer system in which everybody’s automatically covered, then you’re probably not going to reach every single individual” (MacDonald). While the Affordable Care Act is a step in the right direction for our country, budget forecasters expect that “31 million Americans will lack insurance coverage” (Kliff) even after Obamacare is fully implemented. “Our uninsured rate will still be in the double digits, hovering around 11 percent” (Kliff). The Affordable Care Act has helped to insure many more Americans in the past 6 years but has also exposed many weaknesses in providing adequate coverage for the citizens of the United States. Ever increasing premiums and higher costs for medical services have left many underinsured or not insured at all.