re: #528 BryanS

I guess it is a matter of degree on how much control is needed before it is called socialized. I would call medicare/medicaid government run (socialized) medicine—as I have heard Dems publicly state (the government run part, anyway). Again, setting prices, dictating the product sold is control in my mind. It’s only slightly better than the government doing the hiring and administration directly, but not much.

Actually it has to do with who signs your paycheck.

Police and Fire departments are socialized. The stations are government owned buildings and cops and firemen are government employees. In socialized medicine it works the same way. All hospitals and clinics are government owned and not for profit. All health care workers are government employees just like cops and firemen.

Single payer is socialized insurance. Hospitals and Clinics are still privately owned and can be run for profit. Doctors are still independently employed when they want to be. Government just takes the place of the insurance companies and pays all the bills.

What’s being proposed is like neither of these schemes.