SOCIALIZED MEDICINE: Can it Save Healthcare in the USA

Posted on October 20, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd

SPONSOR: http://www.MarcinkoAssociates.com

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Can Socialized Medicine Save U.S. Healthcare?

The U.S. healthcare system is often criticized for its high costs, unequal access, and inconsistent outcomes. With nearly 30 million Americans uninsured and many more underinsured, the question arises: could socialized medicine be the solution to these systemic issues?

Socialized medicine refers to a system where the government owns and operates healthcare facilities and employs medical professionals, funded primarily through taxation. While the term is often used pejoratively in American discourse, countries like the United Kingdom and Sweden have long embraced such models. These systems guarantee universal access to healthcare, regardless of income or employment status.

One of the strongest arguments in favor of socialized medicine is its potential to reduce overall healthcare costs. In the U.S., administrative expenses, profit margins, and fragmented billing systems contribute to exorbitant prices. A centralized system could streamline operations, negotiate better drug prices, and eliminate the need for private insurance middlemen. Countries with socialized systems typically spend less per capita on healthcare while achieving comparable or better health outcomes.

Moreover, socialized medicine could address the issue of healthcare access. In the current U.S. model, losing a job often means losing health insurance. Even with the Affordable Care Act, many Americans face high premiums and deductibles. A government-run system would ensure that healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and that no one is denied care due to financial constraints.

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However, critics argue that socialized medicine could lead to longer wait times, reduced innovation, and lower quality of care. They point to examples in Canada and the U.K. where patients sometimes wait weeks or months for non-emergency procedures. Additionally, skeptics fear that government control could stifle competition and reduce incentives for medical advancement.

Yet, these concerns may be overstated. Many countries with socialized systems still foster innovation through public-private partnerships and maintain high standards of care. France, for example, combines universal coverage with private providers and consistently ranks among the top healthcare systems globally.

Transitioning to socialized medicine in the U.S. would be a monumental task, requiring political will, public support, and a reimagining of healthcare financing. It would disrupt entrenched interests, including insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms. But if the goal is to create a more equitable, efficient, and humane system, socialized medicine deserves serious consideration.

In conclusion, while not a panacea, socialized medicine offers a compelling framework for addressing the deep-rooted problems in U.S. healthcare. By prioritizing access, affordability, and public health over profit, it could pave the way for a healthier and more just society.

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PODCAST: Why Insurance Carriers Want MEDICARE-FOR-ALL

Posted on September 25, 2021 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

WHY M-4-A?

BY ERIC BRICKER MD

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YOUR COMMENTS ARE APPRECIATED.

Thank You.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource/Title/0826102549

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The International Health Care Rationing Conference

Posted on May 4, 2010 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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Appreciating Parallels for the Emerging US Healthcare System?

By Mahsa Ghari

Aim of the Conference

In the late 1990s, the Dutch government started to experiment with ‘regulated competition’ in social health insurance. A milestone was the new Health Insurance Act in 2006 introducing a compulsory health insurance scheme for the entire population, carried out by (for-profit) health insurers, contracting individual and institutional health professionals. Safeguarding equal access, the new health insurance scheme introduced several preconditions like compulsory insurance, a basic benefit package, the prohibition of risk selection, a risk-equalization fund, etc. The idea of competitive health insurance was combined with deregulating hospital planning and liberalizing health care tariffs. 

Merit Considerations

In the new scheme medical need is still decisive in health care access decision-making, but merit-considerations are becoming important too. Shortening waiting times, priority arrangements were considered and/or introduced, based on non-medical criteria. Simultaneously, in terms of financing, health status has become important due to own payments-arrangements, limited insurance package options, etc. At the same time, health status disparities due to socioeconomic inequalities seem to be increasing.

Under these circumstances, confronted with increased health spending, we can expect the “R” word becoming more eminent in the Dutch health care debate.

Relevant Rationing Questions

Emerging relevant questions are:

  • Who is responsible for rationing (markets, governments, bureaucrats, MDs or others)?
  • How does it function (explicit or implicit)?
  • What are relevant selection criteria (QUALYs, DALYs, health status, sex, age, etc)?
  • To what extent is current rationing just?
  • What can be done to make it more just?
  • How will health care rationing affect equal access to health care?
  • What is the relationship between rationing and differences in health status etc?

There is a wealth of literature in political theory, as well as in health care policy, economics, social medicine and law addressing these issues. What is needed is a consideration of the values involved, and the impact of, policy decisions on the expression of these values.

The Erasmus Observatory

Therefore, the Erasmus Observatory organized an international conference to discuss health care rationing from a wide range of perspectives.

Speakers

The following speakers have confirmed their contribution:

  • Dr. Bert Boer, Executive member of the Health Care Insurance Board (ethics)
  • Prof. Werner Brouwer (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (economics)
  • Prof. Norman Daniels (Harvard University) (philosophy, medical ethics)
  • Prof. Leonard Fleck (Michigan State University) (philosophy)
  • Prof. Colleen Flood (Toronto University) (law)
  • Dr. Anand Grover (Special Rapporteur United Nations) (law)
  • Prof. John Harris (University of Manchester) (bioethics)
  • Prof. Frances Kamm (Harvard University) (philosophy)
  • Prof. Johan Mackenbach (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (public health)
  • Prof. Alan Maynard (University of York) (economics)
  • Prof. Chris Newdick (University of Reading) (law)
  • Prof. Erik Nord (University of Oslo) (economics)
  • Prof. Bettina Schöne-Seifert (Münster University) (medical ethics)
  • Dr. Keith Syrett (University of Bristol) (law)

Assessment

The conference language will be in English, in Rotterdam on 9 – 10 December 2010, The Netherlands: info@erasmusobservatoryonhealthlaw.nl

Registration: CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM[1]

Conclusion

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Henry Louis Gehrig, eMRs and Healthcare Reform

Posted on August 26, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

What’s the “Iron Horse” Got to Do with Health IT?

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]Jacobetti VA

According to UPI reports from Charlestown, WVa on August 24 2009, at least 1,200 veterans across the country were mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration [VA] that they suffered from a fatal neurological disorder.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32541579/ns/health-health_care/

Panicked Veterans

One of the leaders of a Gulf War veterans group is reported to have said that panicked veterans from the states of Alabama, Florida, Kansas, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming contacted the group about the error. Denise Nichols, the vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, reportedly blamed a “coding error” for the mistake. In medicine, we call this a “false positive.”

About Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig

Henry Louis “Lou” Gehrig (June 19, 1903 – June 2, 1941), born Ludwig Heinrich Gehrig, was an American baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s; chiefly remembered for his prowess as a hitter, the longevity of his consecutive games played record and the pathos of his tearful farewell from baseball at age 36, when he was stricken with a fatal disease. Of course, Gehrig was known as the “The Iron Horse” for his durability. Yet, the irony is that Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis [ALS], or Lou Gehrig’s disease [sometimes also called Maladie de Charcot] is progressive and fatal. Lou died in 1941 after developing the illness. Will the same death-spiral happen to eHRs and Obama care?

Link: http://www.lougehrig.com

Assessment

Having rotated through the VA system as a young medical student back-in-the-day, I have never been a fan. It smacked of socialized medicine and government plutocracy, and was never a leading-edge example of domestic healthcare, in my informed opinion. Recent HIPAA administrative, security, IT and clinical medical errors are well known. So, to blame the mix-up on an insurance billing and “coding error” seems somewhat disingenuous. Especially now, at a time when eMRs and the Obama Administration’s healthcare reform itself is being vigorously debated by the citizenry. I mean, are there no human checks and balances? Would there be any human intervention if a public healthcare policy was adopted?

Of course, we have written about military medicine previously on this Medical Executive-Post, and devoted an entire channel to it. And, I do realize that more than fifty percent of us receive similar governmental care in some form, or another [Medicare, Medicaid, CHIPS, the Indian and Prison Healthcare Systems, etc].

Link: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/category/military-medicine/

Nevertheless, shall we give a new moniker to this mistake? How about “Lou Gehrig’s coding error”, and document it in our www.HealthDictionarySeries.com

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Is it even fair to relate this “isolated incident” to the current healthcare reform debate, the eMR conundrum and/or similar discussions on health Information Technology [IT]? Tell us what you think. Feel free to review our top-left column, and top-right sidebar materials, links, URLs and related websites, too. Then, be sure to subscribe to the ME-P. It is fast, free and secure.

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ME-P Healthcare Reform Survey?

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

Off-Road Touring with Dr. Marcinko [Part V]

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

[Publisher-in-Chief]

About Marquette, Michigan

As our ME-P readers are aware, Marquette Michigan has a population of 20,714, and is the UP’s largest community. In addition to being a population center, it serves as the regional center for education, health care, and outdoor recreation. This regional draw is particularly evident due to Northern Michigan University and Marquette General Hospital [MGH]. Naturally, during my recent tour there, I was able to visit both small and large medical practices, clinics and hospitals. Everywhere, the topic of conversation was the Obama Administration’s vision of domestic healthcare reform. And so, after unofficially asking local residents on their feelings in the matter, we are pleased to offer this survey to all readers and subscribers to our Medical-Executive Post.

Bell Medical

 

About Off Road with Dr. Marcinko

These sporadic off-road segments will continue through-out my 2009 summer promotional tour. On the one hand, formal attendance at several engagements was a bit sparse because of the death of several recent celebrities and entertainer types. On the other hand, local book stores and sponsors noted a spike in our CD and book sales, as well as interest in our online www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com program and premier quarterly guide: Healthcare Organizations [Journal of Financial Management Strategies] www.HealthcareFinancials.com

Part IV: https://healthcarefinancials.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/off-road-touring-with-dr-marcinko-part-iv/ 

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com

 

 

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Alternative Design Options for a Public Health Plan

Posted on April 23, 2009 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

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New Lewin Group Report Examines Potential Impact

[By Staff Reporters]

April 6, 2009US Capitol

FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Lewin Group released a report titled “The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options.” The report examines potential impacts that a “public health plan” might have in competing for enrollment with the private insurance industry.

Healthcare Reform

As ME-P readers are aware, a public plan is currently being considered in a number of health reform proposals being considered by President Obama and the US Congress. This analysis enhances prior work done by The Lewin Group of the major party presidential candidate’s health reform proposals, during the 2008 campaign, as well as more recent analyses of the Congressional plans now being considered. The report estimates the impact on cost and coverage based on different levels of eligibility and reimbursement rates.

Key Findings Review

According to The Health Care Blog writer Robert Laszewski, key study findings include:

  • If Medicare payment levels are used in the public plan, premiums would be up to 30 percent less than premiums for comparable private coverage. On average, the monthly premium in the public plan for a typical benefits package would be $761 per family compared with an average of $970 per family in the private market for the same coverage.
  • If as the President proposed, eligibility is limited to only small employers, individuals and the self-employed, public plan enrollment would reach 42.9 million people. The number of people with private coverage would fall by 32.0 million people. If private payer reimbursement levels are used by the public plan, enrollment would be lower, with only 10.4 million people switching to the public plan from private insurance.
  • If the public plan is opened to all employers as proposed by former Senators Clinton and Edwards, at Medicare payment levels we estimate that about 131.2 million people would enroll in the public plan. The number of people with private health insurance would decline by 119.1 million people. This would be a two-thirds reduction in the number of people with private coverage (currently 170 million people). Here again, if the higher private payer levels are used, enrollment in private insurance would decline by only 12.5 million people.
  • Assuming Medicare reimbursement rates and eligibility for all individuals and employers, provider net income would decline under this public plan proposal, even after accounting for reduced uncompensated care and increased utilization for the newly insured. Net hospital revenues would fall by $36 billion (4.6 percent), and physician net income would fall by $33 billion (6.8 percent). If eligibility is restricted to individuals and small firms, net hospital revenues would actually increase by $11.3 billion due to the increase in newly insured individuals. But net physician incomes would decline by $3.0 billion.

Assessment

Full report: lewin-report

Conclusion

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