T. R. Reid’s “The Healing of America” (see previous post) really opened my eyes about the concept of “socialized medicine”. The term itself was introduced by the US medical profession in the ___ as a way to describe systems that we didn’t want; in other words, the term was specifically chosen to portray other systems negatively.
Reid identifies four major forms of providing health care, though these exist with different nuances nuances and flavors in different countries. The US already uses all three forms that could be labeled as “socialized medicine”, as well as the fourth form.
- The “UK” model is government-paid and government-delivered. The government determines the services to be provided, and actually provides them, through employees of the “National Health Service”. The US takes care of its military veterans using this model.
- The second model
- The third model Medicare participants have access to private providers who are paid by the government for services rendered, and …
Highly recommended. Read the full review in The New York Times
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