at the global scale, the common interpretation of socialized healthcare is what is known as single payer.. that is where the government opens a trust fund that a portion of everyone's tax dollars goes into, and then that single trust fund is used to pay for EVERYONE's healthcare. The trust fund is established by the state, and is a non-profit provider for health insurance. Obamacare (aka The Affordable Care Act) is a national policy that mandates people to buy from private insurance companies, or pay an additional penalty tax, but unlike other national plans based on an insurance mandate (like what is used in Switzerland, Netherlands, and Germany) the insurance mandate in Obamacare does NOT remove the profit from the standard/mandated coverage. Where as in countries like Switzerland, the private companies can only profit off of what is considered supplemental insurance coverage and according to economist Gerald Friedman, a non-profit national trust fund plan (aka single payer) would cost $500 BILLION dollars LESS than our current healthcare plan http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2012/0312friedman.pdf so what is Obamacare in your opinion.. is it a socialist healthcare plan, is it a capitalist healthcare plan, is it a corporatist healthcare plan, or is it something else?
I'd say corporatist. It isn't socialism, since you'll still pay for your insurance, as a matter of fact it encourages people to spend money. It is also an interference with the free market, even though it does make people put more money into healthcare, it is still founded by subsidies from the government, the government is also regulating the healthcare market in order to insure quality.
Haha true. But in this case you're setting tougher standards for insurance companies, you're also raising taxes in order to fund subsidies. A capitalist utopia would be a place where the only thing the government was funding was infrastructure, law/order and military. Even then some would probably claim that toll roads should be introduced.
No, a "capitalist utopia" uses government for whatever it can. That's why it's called capitalist and not "laissez faire."
It's socialist, but a transitionary step to a more pure form of it. To the poster who claimed it wasn't socialist because you still have to pay for your insurance: that's great and all, but the amount you pay is greatly skewed by your income situation. People's rates are being heavily subsidized dependent upon their financial situation, which is nothing more than a redistributionist (socialist) policy.
so you're saying the mandate to buy from private insurance companies at a profitable rate will eventually faze out private health insurance altogether? also, feel free to put your vote in the poll.. all of you
I voted corporatist - why not just socialize the whole thing and be done with it, that works for me. Health care in Soviet days was tops
I completely forgot to mention the legislators who are now profiting off of the very legislation they helped create (something that is illegal in many countries) .http://rt.com/usa/news/white-role-fowler-health-464/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/obamacare-fowler-lobbyist-industry1
polls show the majority of Americans want single payer http://www.healthcare-now.org/another-poll-shows-majority-support-for-single-payer http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/26/1265428/-Majority-of-Americans-Support-Single-Payer http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/12/09/two-thirds-support-3/ only 35% of Americans approve of Obamacare http://swampland.time.com/2013/12/23/obamacare-approval-ratings-hit-record-low/
Whether good or bad, Obamacare is clearly socialist. Obamacare will turn out to be, whether inadvertently or by design, a part of the massive socialist goal of income redistribution. It will result in the middle class and above being forced to pay about half of their incomes to purchase their own individual or family health insurance plans which are in compliance with requirements as established by Obamacare. Most of the money taken from the middle class will be used to fund high-quality health care for the nation's minorities.
