There, I said it. Not once, not twice, but three times.
The Journal says “socialized medicine” has become a dirty word:
As National Public Radio recently observed, “socialized medicine” has become a dirty word on the presidential circuit. Republican candidates for president have taken to calling the health-care reform proposals of the Democratic candidates socialized medicine.
But what does that term mean?
Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy at UNC Chapel Hill, explained that the term itself has no meaning. There is no definition of socialized medicine. It originated with an American Medical Association campaign against government-provided health care a century ago and has been used recently to describe even private-sector initiatives such as HMOs.
The bottom line is whatever “socilaized medicine” means, we’ve got it.
