Bob

I liked by little tally sheet that included the cost of a bandage, the cost of a latex glove, and then the non-latex glove...even though my medical file has a huge red stamp saying latex allergy....

Bob

titre tests cost around $270-300 without insurance, a tetanus costs around the same without insurance...

fatbrit

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. Organizations that generally oppose expansion of government services still tend to use the phrase in that way.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine

i.e. if you use that phrase, you are opposing it. Which is fine if you want to. But don't, please, pretend that it's a neutral term.

Tracym

Well I wasn't pretending anything. Frankly I just did a search for the definition, and every definition I found sounded pretty neutral. I don't have any particular pre-conceptions about the term.

So can't say I personally was using the term to oppose it. Not by using the tem anyway.

scrubbedexpat099

US Government spends more per person on health care than the UK Gov does.

So if the UK is Socialised, perhaps the US is Communised?

Bob

not this old china again.

personal experiences are just that, they don't account for the system as a whole.

given the two broken systems, I know which I would prefer, and I'll leave it at that.

fatbrit

Lobotomized?

fatbrit

So now you know!

Bob

It's not taking offence as much, just the bad connotations associated with it in the US...if your liberal your a pinko commie, if you want socialised health care, your a socialist pinko commie scum etc.

Big D

I went to the dentist for first time last week - $450 - now i know its been a while but it was only a poke around and a spit and polish!

Tracym

I'd be getting a different dentist. $80 for me.

Tracym

me too

Tracym

so by Wiki's definition, universal is NOT the same as socialized.

From what I read, that would definitely make Canada's socialized then (last I looked private insurance was illegal there, although they were being forced to change that in one part of the country, due to some unacceptable delays).

So if we can't use the term "socialized" even though it fits the definition and "universal health care" is incorrect - what term would you use?

Big D

Not my money so I dont really care - I was just amazed!

Maybe its the Manhattan rates!

fatbrit

In the interests of fairness (well, for a laugh, anyway), Trace, I went to Conservpedia and type "socialized" in the search box. On the first page, there's a link to Clinton, which states:

"Clinton was unable to "reform" health-care in the United States with a socialized health-care plan. It was a tough sell in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Bloc only a few years earlier. His approach consisted of appointing a planning committee with secret members to reshape this important sector of the economy. The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons successfully sued to force disclosure of the committee financing, expenses and membership. The program ultimately became so unpopular after two years the Democratically controlled Congress shielded its members records by never bringing it to floor for a vote."

There's a link on this entry for socialized that brings us to their Wiki page entitled socialism, containing the following gems:

"Socialism is an economic and political ideology based on public ownership of the means of production"

"many of the most notoriously oppressive dictatorships have been socialist in name, such as the Soviet Union"

"Wage earners suffer under Socialism, as it is hard to get paid in a system that discourages private persons from accummulating[SIC!] income."

"Although socialist parties are common in Europe, the leading examples all currently embrace some free enterprise, individual property rights and certain other aspects of capitalism although leading European Socialists are very critical of America."