Editing Socialized medicine (section)

==History of term==
When the term "socialized medicine" first appeared in the United States in the early 20th century, it bore no negative connotations. Otto P. Geier, chairman of the Preventive Medicine Section of the [[American Medical Association]], was quoted in ''The New York Times'' in 1917 as praising socialized medicine as a way to "discover disease in its incipiency", help end "venereal diseases, alcoholism, tuberculosis", and "make a fundamental contribution to social welfare".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/01/96251567.pdf |title=World at War is Facing a Shortage of Doctors|access-date=April 2, 2009 |date=July 1, 1917 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>  However, by the 1930s, the term socialized medicine was routinely used negatively by [[American conservatism|conservative]] opponents of [[publicly funded health care]] who wished to imply it represented socialism, and by extension, communism.<ref name="Slate history lesson">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slate.com/id/2175477 |title=Who's Afraid of Socialized Medicine? Two dangerous words that kill health-care reform |access-date=February 27, 2008 |last=Greenberg |first=David |date=October 8, 2007 |magazine=[[Slate Magazine|Slate]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080224140651/http://www.slate.com/id/2175477 |archive-date=February 24, 2008 }}</ref> Universal health care and [[national health insurance]] were first proposed by U.S. President [[Theodore Roosevelt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.healthinsurance.info/issues-and-advocacy/National-Health-Care.HTM |title=National Health Care |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513023853/http://www.healthinsurance.info/issues-and-advocacy/National-Health-Care.HTM |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |url-status=dead |website=HealthInsurance.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=Chris Farrell |url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060123_1965_db013.htm |title=It's Time to Cure Health Care |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330230653/http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan2006/nf20060123_1965_db013.htm |archive-date=March 30, 2008 |url-status=dead |magazine=BusinessWeek}}</ref><ref name="Progressive Platform of 1912">{{cite web|url=http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607|title=Progressive Party Platform of 1912|website=Teaching American History|access-date=April 27, 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130409010531/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=607|archive-date=April 9, 2013}}</ref> President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] later championed it, as did [[Harry S. Truman]] as part of his [[Fair Deal]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/anniversaries/healthprogram.htm |title=President Truman Addresses Congress on Proposed Health Program, Washington, D.C. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308120819/http://www.trumanlibrary.org/anniversaries/healthprogram.htm |archive-date=March 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |website=Harry S. Truman Library and Museum}}</ref> and many others. Truman announced before describing his proposal that: "This is not socialized medicine".<ref name="Slate history lesson"/>

Government involvement in health care was ardently opposed by the AMA, which distributed posters to doctors with slogans such as "Socialized medicine&nbsp;... will undermine the democratic form of government."<ref>Olivier Garceau, "Organized Medicine Enforces its 'Party Line'", Public Opinion Quarterly, September 1940, p. 416.</ref> According to T.R. Reid (''The Healing of America'', 2009): {{blockquote|The term ["socialized medicine"] was popularized by a public relations firm [<nowiki/>[[Whitaker and Baxter]]{{Failed verification|date=September 2020}}] working for the American Medical Association in 1947 to disparage President Truman's proposal for a national health care system. It was a label, at the dawn of the [[Cold War|cold war]], meant to suggest that anybody advocating universal access to health care must be a communist. And the phrase has retained its political power for six decades.<ref name="T.R. Reid, 2009"/><ref name="abcnews.go.com"/>}}

The AMA conducted a nationwide campaign called [[Operation Coffee Cup]] during the late 1950s and early 1960s in opposition to the Democrats' plans to extend [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] to include health insurance for the elderly, later known as [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]]. As part of the plan, doctors' wives would organize coffee meetings in an attempt to convince acquaintances to write letters to Congress opposing the program.<ref name=OCC>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/magazine/16SOCIAL.html| title=A Question of Numbers| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]| author=Roger Lowenstein| date=July 27, 2009| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331144728/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/16/magazine/16SOCIAL.html| archive-date=March 31, 2014}}</ref> In 1961, [[Ronald Reagan]] recorded a disc entitled ''[[Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine]]'' warning its audience the "dangers" that socialized medicine could bring. The recording was widely played at Operation Coffee Cup meetings.<ref name=OCC/> Other pressure groups began to extend the definition from state managed health care to any form of state finance in health care.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} President [[Dwight Eisenhower]] opposed plans to expand government role in healthcare during his time in [[Eisenhower administration|office]].<ref name="Slate history lesson"/>

In more recent times, the term was brought up again by [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 U.S. presidential election]].<ref>{{Cite news |author=Meckler, Laura |date=January 25, 2008 |title=Tempering health-care goals; Democrats' proposals build on current system, reject single-payer |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |page=A5 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120123158058516047 |quote="Say something too kind about single-payer and there's a Republican around the corner ready to brand you a socialist"..."Say something too harsh and you will alienate many on the left wing of the party." |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309000001/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120123158058516047 |archive-date=March 9, 2016 }}</ref> In July 2007, one month after the release of [[Michael Moore]]'s film ''[[Sicko]]'', [[Rudy Giuliani]], the front-runner for the [[Republican Party (United States) presidential candidates, 2008|2008 Republican presidential nomination]], attacked the health care plans of [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential candidates, 2008|Democratic presidential candidates]] as socialized medicine that was European and [[socialism|socialist]],<ref>{{Cite news |author=Steinhauser, Paul |date=July 31, 2007 |title=Giuliani attacks Democratic health plans as "socialist" |publisher=[[CNN]].com |url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/31/giuliani.democrats/index.html |quote=The American way is not single-payer, government-controlled anything. That's a European way of doing something; that's frankly a socialist way of doing something. That's why when you hear Democrats in particular talk about single-mandated health care, universal health care, what they're talking about is socialized medicine. |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011213503/http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/31/giuliani.democrats/index.html |archive-date=October 11, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Ramer, Holly (Associated Press) |date=July 31, 2007 |title=Giuliani offers health plan |newspaper=[[USA Today|USAToday.com]] |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-07-31-3646301646_x.htm|quote=We've got to solve our health care problem with American principles, not the principles of socialism.}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} Giuliani claimed that he had a better chance of surviving [[prostate cancer]] in the US than he would have had in [[England]]<ref>{{cite news |author=Haberman, Shir |date=August 1, 2007 |title=Giuliani touts health plan |newspaper=[[The Portsmouth Herald|SeacoastOnline.com]] |url=http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070801/NEWS/708010376/-1/TOWN0302 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606150954/http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20070801%2FNEWS%2F708010376%2F-1%2FTOWN0302 |archive-date=June 6, 2011 }}</ref> and went on to repeat the claim in campaign speeches for three months<ref>{{cite news |author=Mayko, Michael P. |date=July 31, 2007 |title=Giuliani prescribes health care reform |newspaper=[[Connecticut Post|ConnPost.com]] |url=http://www.newsmodo.com/display.jsp?id=400161 |access-date=July 17, 2009 |archive-date=April 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421104046/https://www.newsmodo.com/display.jsp?id=400161 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|author=March, William |date=September 18, 2007 |title=Giuliani breezes through state; He attends Tampa fundraising event |work=[[The Tampa Tribune]] |page=5 (Metro) |url=http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/sep/17/giuliani-breezes-through-state/news-breaking|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121094743/http://www2.tbo.com/content/2007/sep/17/giuliani-breezes-through-state/?news-breaking%3C/p|archive-date=November 21, 2007|access-date=January 25, 2023}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |author=Hutchinson, Bill |date=September 18, 2007 |title=Giuliani fans greet "the Mayor" in Tampa |work=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]] |page=BCE1 |url=http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070918/NEWS/709180411?Title=Giuliani-fans-greet-the-Mayor-at-Tampa-cafe |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605100520/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070918/NEWS/709180411?Title=Giuliani-fans-greet-the-Mayor-at-Tampa-cafe |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=September 19, 2007 |title=Giuliani's warning over UK's NHS |work=[[BBC News Online]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7003286.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302212254/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7003286.stm |archive-date=March 2, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=September 19, 2007 |title=Giuliani pays homage to Thatcher on UK visit |newspaper=[[The Times|TimesOnline.co.uk]] |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2491657.ece | location=London}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Cook, Emily |date=September 20, 2007 |title=Giuliani in blast at the NHS |newspaper=[[Daily Mirror|Mirror.co.uk]] |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2007/09/20/giuliani-in-nhs-blast-115875-19817725 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605233940/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2007/09/20/giuliani-in-nhs-blast-115875-19817725/ |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }}</ref> before making them in a radio advertisement.<ref>{{Cite news |author1=Cillizza, Chris |author2=Murray, Shailagh |date=October 28, 2007 |title=Giuliani's bid to woo New Hampshire independents centers on health care |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |page=A02 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102701241.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122081341/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102701241.html |archive-date=November 22, 2016 }}</ref> After the radio ad began running, the use of the statistic was widely criticized by [[FactCheck]].org,<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Robertson, Lori |author2=Henig, Jess |date=October 30, 2007 |title=A bogus cancer statistic |publisher=[[FactCheck]].org |url=http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_bogus_cancer_statistic.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120022621/http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/a_bogus_cancer_statistic.html |archive-date=January 20, 2008 }}</ref> [[PolitiFact.com]],<ref>{{cite news |author1=Greene, Lisa |author2=August, Lissa |date=October 31, 2007 |title=A cancer ad gone wrong for Rudy |work=[[PolitiFact.com]] |url=http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2007/oct/31/cancer-ad-gone-wrong-rudy |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804093707/http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2007/oct/31/cancer-ad-gone-wrong-rudy/ |archive-date=August 4, 2009 }}</ref> by ''[[The Washington Post]]'',<ref>{{Cite news |author=Dobbs, Michael |date=October 30, 2007 |title=Rudy wrong on cancer survival chances |work=The Fact Checker |publisher=[[The Washington Post|WashingtonPost.com]] |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/rudy_miscalculates_cancer_surv.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110818152631/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/rudy_miscalculates_cancer_surv.html |archive-date=August 18, 2011 }}</ref> and others who consulted leading cancer experts and found that Giuliani's cancer survival statistics to be false, misleading or "flat wrong", the numbers having been reported to have been obtained from an opinion article by Giuliani health care advisor [[David Gratzer]], a Canadian [[psychiatrist]] in the [[Manhattan Institute]]'s ''[[City Journal (New York)|City Journal]]'' where Gratzer was a senior fellow.<ref name="lieberman">{{cite magazine |author=Lieberman, Trudy |date=November 21, 2007 |title=Rudy's unhealthy stats; Some good reporting holds Giuliani's phony cancer numbers at bay |magazine=[[Columbia Journalism Review]] |url=https://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/rudys_unhealthy_stats.php?page=all |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804014428/https://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/rudys_unhealthy_stats.php?page=all |archive-date=August 4, 2009 }}</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' reported that the British [[Secretary of State for Health|Health Secretary]] pleaded with Giuliani to stop using the NHS as a political football in American presidential politics. The article reported that not only the figures were five years out of date and wrong but also that US health experts disputed both the accuracy of Giuliani's figures and questioned whether it was fair to make a direct comparison.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Baldwin, Tom |date=November 1, 2007 |title=Rudy Giuliani uses the NHS as 'political football to give Hillary Clinton a kicking |work=[[The Times]] |page=2 |quote=Doctors in the two countries have different philosophies for treating the disease with the US putting more emphasis on early diagnosis and surgery. An analysis of mortality rates suggests that about 25 out of 100,000 men are dying from prostate cancer each year in both Britain and the US. |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2781602.ece |location=London |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516053000/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2781602.ece |archive-date=May 16, 2008 }}</ref> The ''[[St. Petersburg Times]]'' said that Giuliani's tactic of "injecting a little fear" exploited cancer, which was "apparently not beneath a survivor with presidential aspirations".<ref>{{Cite news |author=editorial |date=November 3, 2007 |title=Giuliani's dose of fear |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |page=14A |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/03/Opinion/Giuliani_s_dose_of_fe.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226195228/http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/03/Opinion/Giuliani_s_dose_of_fe.shtml |archive-date=February 26, 2008 }}</ref> Giuliani's repetition of the error even after it had been pointed out to him earned him more criticism and was awarded four "Pinocchios" by the ''Washington Post'' for recidivism.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Dobbs, Michael |date=November 7, 2007 |title=Four Pinocchios for recidivist Rudy |work=The Fact Checker |publisher=[[The Washington Post|WashingtonPost.com]] |url=http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/four_pinocchios_for_rudy_the_r.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925192527/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/four_pinocchios_for_rudy_the_r.html |archive-date=September 25, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author1=Robertson, Lori |author2=Henig, Jess |date=November 8, 2007 |title=Bogus cancer stats, again |publisher=[[FactCheck]].org |url=http://www.factcheck.org/bogus_cancer_stats_again.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080101083039/http://www.factcheck.org/bogus_cancer_stats_again.html |archive-date=January 1, 2008 }}</ref>

Health care professionals have tended to avoid the term because of its pejorative nature, but if they use it, they do not include publicly funded private medical schemes such as [[Medicaid]].<ref name="isbn0-7656-1478-2"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=25520 |title=Single-payer health care - Medical Dictionary definitions of popular medical terms |access-date=December 22, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215083438/http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=25520 |archive-date=February 15, 2005 }} Webster's New World Medical Dictionary, "Single-payer health care is distinct and different from socialized medicine in which doctors and hospitals work for and draw salaries from the government."</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/june/kevin_drum_and_uwe_r.php |title=Kevin Drum and Uwe Reinhardt on social insurance {{pipe}} Physicians for a National Health Program |access-date=December 22, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011044949/http://www.pnhp.org/news/2006/june/kevin_drum_and_uwe_r.php |archive-date=October 11, 2007 }} Uwe Reinhardt, quoted in ''The Washington Monthly'': "'Socialism' is an arrangement under which the means of production are owned by the state. Government-run health insurance is not "socialism," and only an ignoramus would call it that. Rather, government-run health insurance is a form of "social insurance," that can be coupled with privately owned for-profit or not-for-profit health care delivery systems."</ref> Opponents of state involvement in health care tend to use the looser definition.<ref name="Winston-Salem Journal">{{cite news |url=http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MGArticle/WSJ_ColumnistArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173353854523 |title=Dirty Words |newspaper=Winston-Salem Journal |date=December 14, 2007 |quote=onathan 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.}}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} See also {{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16962482 |title=Socialized Medicine Belittled on Campaign Trail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707232709/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16962482 |archive-date=July 7, 2017 |url-status=live |work=National Public Radio, Morning Edition |date=December 6, 2007 |quote="The term socialized medicine, technically, to most health policy analysts, actually doesn't mean anything at all," says Jonathan Oberlander, a professor of health policy at the University of North Carolina.}}</ref>

The term is widely used by the American media and pressure groups. Some have even stretched use of the term to cover any regulation of health care, publicly financed or not.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8686 | title = Socialized Medicine is Already Here | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071217204310/https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8686 | archive-date = December 17, 2007 }}</ref> The term is often used to criticize publicly provided health care outside the US, but rarely to describe similar health care programs there, such as the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|Veterans Administration]] clinics and hospitals, military health care,<ref>{{Cite web | author=Timothy Noah | title=The Triumph of Socialized Medicine | work=Slate | date=March 8, 2005 | url=http://www.slate.com/id/2114554/ | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614160232/http://www.slate.com/id/2114554/ | archive-date=June 14, 2006 }}</ref> or the single payer programs such as [[Medicaid]] and [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]]. Many conservatives use the term to evoke negative sentiment toward health care reform that would involve increasing government involvement in the US health care system.

Medical staff, academics and most professionals in the field and international bodies such as the [[World Health Organization]] tend to avoid use of the term.{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} Outside the US, the terms most commonly used are [[universal health care]] or [[public health care]].{{Citation needed|date=February 2008}} According to health economist [[Uwe Reinhardt]], "strictly speaking, the term "socialized medicine" should be reserved for health systems in which the government operates the production of health care and provides its financing."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Uwe Reinhardt, Germany's Health Care and Health Insurance System|page=163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W5fvMTqCSywC&q=uwe+reinhardt+socialized+medicine&pg=PA163|publisher=World Bank Publications|isbn=978-0-8213-3253-5|author1=Dunlop, David W|author2=Martins, Jo. M|date=June 1995|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312203547/https://books.google.com/books?id=W5fvMTqCSywC&pg=PA163&dq=uwe+reinhardt+socialized+medicine|archive-date=March 12, 2017}}</ref> Still others say the term has no meaning at all.<ref name="Winston-Salem Journal"/>

In more recent times, the term has gained a more positive reappraisal. Documentary movie maker [[Michael Moore]] in his documentary ''[[Sicko]]'' pointed out that Americans do not talk about public libraries or the police or the fire department as being "socialized" and do not have negative opinions of these. Media personalities such as [[Oprah Winfrey]] have also weighed in behind the concept of public involvement in healthcare.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/63935/michael_moore_and_oprah_ask_audience:_why_should_us_health_care_be_for_profit/?comments=view&cID=741898&pID=741639 |title=Michael Moore and Oprah Ask Audience: Why Should US Health Care be for Profit? {{pipe}} Video {{pipe}} AlterNet |access-date=April 14, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090928133533/http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/63935/michael_moore_and_oprah_ask_audience:_why_should_us_health_care_be_for_profit?comments=view&cID=741898&pID=741639 |archive-date=September 28, 2009 }} Video of Oprah Winfrey show on the issue of health care</ref> A 2008 poll indicates that Americans are sharply divided when asked about their views of the expression ''socialized medicine'', with a large percentage of Democrats holding favorable views, while a large percentage of Republicans holding unfavorable views. Independents tend to somewhat favor it.<ref>{{Cite web | url = http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/02/americans-split-on-socialized-medicine/ | title = Americans split on socialized medicine | work = [[Harvard Gazette]] | date = February 21, 2008 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150929041142/http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/02/americans-split-on-socialized-medicine/ | archive-date = September 29, 2015 }}</ref>