The Pros & Cons of Socialized Medicare

Debates over 'socialized medicine" date back to long before President Obama proposed his health care plan. Even defining "socialized medicine" can be controversial. Some speakers use the term to refer to health care systems where the doctors work directly for the government; others describe any system where the government, rather than individuals, pays doctors for some medical services. Medicare and Medicaid were described by critics as socialized medicine when the government first proposed them.

Coverage

• More than 18,000 Americans die each year because they don't have health insurance, Dr. Patrick Whelan states on the My Family Doctor website. If the government provides universal health care, lack of insurance won't be a problem. Opponents of government intervention claim you can get the same result without "socialized medicine." During the 2008 presidential campaign, for example, Senator John McCain proposed eliminating states' authority to regulate insurers, which he said would make it easier for insurers to offer lower-cost health insurance throughout the country.

Rationing

• The National Right to Life Committee argues that if government pays for health care, it will inevitably control costs by restricting the treatments and medicines people receive. Dr. John O'Shea takes the same position on My Family Doctor, stating that decisions on treatment shouldn't be limited by government guidelines. Rick Ungar, in Forbes, states that health insurance companies already ration treatment. Some insurers, for instance, provide financial incentives for doctors not to prescribe types of chemotherapy the insurers consider too costly.

Availability

• O'Shea states in his article that in countries that already have universal health care, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, practice "rationing by queue." Patients who want to see specialists have to wait weeks for an appointment. Writing in Politics Daily, U.K. resident Delia Lloyd agrees there can be delays in seeing specialists, though primary care appointments are not usually a problem. On the other hand, she states, if you have an emergency or even a non-emergency problem on the weekend or late at night, it's much easier to find a doctor in the U.K., and you don't have to pay emergency room bills.

Responsibility

• O'Shea, like many critics of government health care, argues that government spending is inefficient, so health care costs will inevitably go up in a government system. That, in turn, will force unacceptable costs in other services to pay for medical benefits. Writing on the Our Future political website, Sara Robinson argues that while most government-run health systems such as Canada's struggle with costs, so do private insurers, and that in a government system, individuals won't go bankrupt paying for medical bills.