For example, the passage of Medicare in 1965 was one of the first major steps taken towards socialized medicine in America. Medicare socializes health care in old age, forcing everyone in society to foot the medical bills of seniors and forcing seniors to get most of their medical care through the government. Medicare’s proponents knew that most Americans — young or old — would not support the program if they knew what it was: a massive entitlement program at odds with the American spirit of individualism and self-reliance. So to pass it, Medicare’s proponents, borrowing a page out of the Social Security playbook, told a different story. They dressed up Medicare as insurance and argued that Medicare benefits, far from being handouts, are actually earned.... ...Since the passage of Medicare (and Medicaid, which was passed at the same time), American health care has incrementally been further socialized, through new and expanded entitlement programs and increasing regulatory control. Each time, proponents called greater government control of health care anything but socialized medicine. Obamacare is just their latest play. Rituparna Basu
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 15:59:37 +0000
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