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... which is why I put quotes around my use of the term above. Single-payer plans are often referred to as "socialized healthcare", whether it fits the diction

... which is why I put quotes around my use of the term above. Single-payer plans are often referred to as "socialized healthcare", whether it fits the dictionary definition of socialism or not. So, can we focus on problems and solutions and not argue about definitions? I don't think it brings anything to the table.

dragonwriter 2y ago
> Single-payer plans are often referred to as "socialized healthcare" This is mainly an Americanism which is grounded in a similar mistake about socialism, though in a society which is actually democratic and predominantly working class, a State directed use of resources for a particular public service is at least not-entirely-unrelated to socialism (though if it is a single payer atrangement where the payees are private owners of the means of production actually employing providers of service, it is still not socialism; actually socialized medicine is, for example, where the worker-controlled state controls the hospitals, equipment, and other capital used in providing healthcare, and employs the doctors, nurses, etc. directly), whereas a commercial offering by a private capitalist profit-making entity is... nothing like socialism. > So, can we focus on problems and solutions and not argue about definitions? You are literally attributing a problem specific to capitalism to “socialism” and badly twisting the definition of socialism to do it. That’s not really a sign of being interested in “problems and solutions”, but of being interested in promoting ideological fantasies about capitalism. If you were interested in what works, you'd look at why the problem is unique to the US and what distinguishes the US healthcare system from those of other developed economies.
- linsomniac 2y ago
  I don't know if I'd call it a mistake... I'm pretty sure the phrase "socialized healthcare" was deliberately selected to help try to demonize the idea, supporting the insurance industry lobbying.

dragonwriter 2y ago

> Single-payer plans are often referred to as "socialized healthcare" This is mainly an Americanism which is grounded in a similar mistake about socialism, though in a society which is actually democratic and predominantly working class, a State directed use of resources for a particular public service is at least not-entirely-unrelated to socialism (though if it is a single payer atrangement where the payees are private owners of the means of production actually employing providers of service, it is still not socialism; actually socialized medicine is, for example, where the worker-controlled state controls the hospitals, equipment, and other capital used in providing healthcare, and employs the doctors, nurses, etc. directly), whereas a commercial offering by a private capitalist profit-making entity is... nothing like socialism. > So, can we focus on problems and solutions and not argue about definitions? You are literally attributing a problem specific to capitalism to “socialism” and badly twisting the definition of socialism to do it. That’s not really a sign of being interested in “problems and solutions”, but of being interested in promoting ideological fantasies about capitalism. If you were interested in what works, you'd look at why the problem is unique to the US and what distinguishes the US healthcare system from those of other developed economies.

linsomniac 2y ago
I don't know if I'd call it a mistake... I'm pretty sure the phrase "socialized healthcare" was deliberately selected to help try to demonize the idea, supporting the insurance industry lobbying.