Why Are Many Americans Scared Of Socialism?

[All Else Failed]

Ok, so you are happy with your health insurance and don't see any problems with the current system or with skyrocketing costs, and you never plan on getting sick. You're set. And instead of the government fixing it, corporations will voluntarily kill their golden goose for the good of the people. Sure they will.

No see you're missing the point that the government probably won't fix those things. We don't need to throw out the baby with the bath water and have an entirely new system just because there are problems with this one that can be fixed.

Want half the problems to go away? Drop the state restrictions on where Insurance companies can operate and have them compete on a national scale.


There is NO competition with a single payer system. The government decides everything, and you really have no say in it. That includes what treatments you can get and when you can get them, or if they have cost problems they can start rationing out health services. No thanks.

 

[Jumbo Shrimp]

They think it will take away the freedoms that make them American. Also...we fucked up...why would they want to.

 

[Minor Axis]

There is NO competition with a single payer system. The government decides everything, and you really have no say in it. That includes what treatments you can get and when you can get them, or if they have cost problems they can start rationing out health services. No thanks.

A single payer system is not being proposed, universal health coverage is being proposed. Corporations will not fix this problem, only the government can.

 

[Zorak]

Why should Americans who can (or make enough money to) afford to pay their own way have the federal government pick up the tab?

I think we have wildly differing views on what constitutes equality.

If the federal, or national, government offers a healthcare of good quality to all that creates your baseline of equality. That does not mean that Americans are forbidden from paying for their own medical care via private channels, they are of course more than welcome to engage in that pursuit of liberty.

 

[Accountable]

A single payer system is not being proposed, universal health coverage is being proposed. Corporations will not fix this problem, only the government can.

Single payer is the stated goal. They will accept anything to get the camel's nose under the tent. Never assume that government is the only solution.

 

[All Else Failed]

A single payer system is not being proposed, universal health coverage is being proposed. Corporations will not fix this problem, only the government can.

universal coverage is a single payer system.

 

[kelvin070]

To put it in a nutshell, many americans are scared of socialism simply cuz socialism is a transition stage from capitalism to communism.

 

[satinbutterfly]

Not scared, not paranoid, just not that willing to let the government take control of something that doesn't need to be taken over.

:homo:

The government is taking over more and more, and the less the government has to do with my life, the better. I don't want to be told when I can see a doctor and for what. I want to work, pay my bills, and if I need to see a doc then I can see one. I don't want to have to wait months and months (or even years) for simple medical procedures.

And, I want my doctors well paid. They save lives and keep people healthy. I'd rather see a doc who drives a BMW vs. a Kia. I know they're doing a good job if they're making money.

Many many doctors' offices would shut down rather than be part of a national healthcare plan where they are overworked, understaffed, and underpaid.

That doesn't make me paranoid. As Americans we should be jealous of our freedoms, and we should fight to protect them. We don't want interference in our lives, especially not the government's. We just want to be able to go about our business and live our lives to the best of our ability. It's just our way of life, and now it's being threatened, and we don't like it.

 

[Accountable]

I think we have wildly differing views on what constitutes equality.

You're right.

If the federal, or national, government offers a healthcare of good quality to all that creates your baseline of equality. That does not mean that Americans are forbidden from paying for their own medical care via private channels, they are of course more than welcome to engage in that pursuit of liberty.

The baseline is that we are created equal. The federal, or national, government offering anything at all necessarily means it is requiring taxes to pay for it. Taxes necessarily come in unequal amounts from equal citizens. It is one thing to help the helpless and give the unlucky a temporary hand up. Something else entirely to tax people to pay for "free" services that some could afford to pay themselves.

 

[Siphorous]

:homo:

The government is taking over more and more, and the less the government has to do with my life, the better. I don't want to be told when I can see a doctor and for what. I want to work, pay my bills, and if I need to see a doc then I can see one. I don't want to have to wait months and months (or even years) for simple medical procedures.

And, I want my doctors well paid. They save lives and keep people healthy. I'd rather see a doc who drives a BMW vs. a Kia. I know they're doing a good job if they're making money.

Many many doctors' offices would shut down rather than be part of a national healthcare plan where they are overworked, understaffed, and underpaid.

That doesn't make me paranoid. As Americans we should be jealous of our freedoms, and we should fight to protect them. We don't want interference in our lives, especially not the government's. We just want to be able to go about our business and live our lives to the best of our ability. It's just our way of life, and now it's being threatened, and we don't like it.

Ask TD to tell you about the N.H.S. if he hasn't already. You should move him and kids over there!

 

[Accountable]

:homo:

The government is taking over more and more, and the less the government has to do with my life, the better. I don't want to be told when I can see a doctor and for what. I want to work, pay my bills, and if I need to see a doc then I can see one. I don't want to have to wait months and months (or even years) for simple medical procedures.

And, I want my doctors well paid. They save lives and keep people healthy. I'd rather see a doc who drives a BMW vs. a Kia. I know they're doing a good job if they're making money.

Many many doctors' offices would shut down rather than be part of a national healthcare plan where they are overworked, understaffed, and underpaid.

That doesn't make me paranoid. As Americans we should be jealous of our freedoms, and we should fight to protect them. We don't want interference in our lives, especially not the government's. We just want to be able to go about our business and live our lives to the best of our ability. It's just our way of life, and now it's being threatened, and we don't like it.

Well said. :clap

 

[kelvin070]

You guys dont get it. Healthcare is just one of the many aspects. The economic and financial crisis showed that govt intervention was necesary to fix all the wrongdoings. Market foces wont solve the problems.

 

[Accountable]

Excess government intervention was what created "all the wrongdoings." Politician were bought by corporate interests to use legislation to manipulate the market forces.

 

[kelvin070]

Politicians were bought by Corporate Interests? Used legislation to Manupulate the markets? Fix the loopholes now!

 

[Meirionnydd]

:homo:

The government is taking over more and more, and the less the government has to do with my life, the better. I don't want to be told when I can see a doctor and for what. I want to work, pay my bills, and if I need to see a doc then I can see one. I don't want to have to wait months and months (or even years) for simple medical procedures.

And, I want my doctors well paid. They save lives and keep people healthy. I'd rather see a doc who drives a BMW vs. a Kia. I know they're doing a good job if they're making money.

Many many doctors' offices would shut down rather than be part of a national healthcare plan where they are overworked, understaffed, and underpaid.

As someone that lives in a country with evil socialised medicine, i'll say that, other than empty rhetoric, there's nothing in your statement that's even remotely true, about single-payer systems.

Firstly, I have the freedom to choose any doctor I want, either ones that do bulk-billing, or I can pay out of my own pocket to see one who doesn't. Doctors here are quite well payed, they don't earn the $30,000 a year that would facilitate driving a Kia, or some other low quality car.

As I can recall, doctors aren't exactly under an obligation to play a part in the national health care scheme, they can refuse if they so choose, and run a practice independent from Federal subsidies.

Private insurance companies have quite a large role to play here too, as there are quite a large number of private medical institutions here. I don't exactly see how a public option is going to destroy the insurance industry in the United States.

 

[Minor Axis]

universal coverage is a single payer system.

Unless I don't understand, UHC does not have to be a single payer system, but it does have to be universal.

Conservative forces in the U.S. have done a most excellent job of scaring the hell out of regular people such that they are begging to maintain the status quo against their best interests.

 

[satinbutterfly]

As someone that lives in a country with evil socialised medicine, i'll say that, other than empty rhetoric, there's nothing in your statement that's even remotely true, about single-payer systems.

Firstly, I have the freedom to choose any doctor I want, either ones that do bulk-billing, or I can pay out of my own pocket to see one who doesn't. Doctors here are quite well payed, they don't earn the $30,000 a year that would facilitate driving a Kia, or some other low quality car.

As I can recall, doctors aren't exactly under an obligation to play a part in the national health care scheme, they can refuse if they so choose, and run a practice independent from Federal subsidies.

Private insurance companies have quite a large role to play here too, as there are quite a large number of private medical institutions here. I don't exactly see how a public option is going to destroy the insurance industry in the United States.

I believe that natioinalized healthcare is different in each country who has it. The information I've gotten has been mostly from those who live in Canada. While the program may run well in certain countries, it does not in all.

My main problem is the government involvement. Our system is already corrupted and failing, and adding another function is not the solution. I lack the faith in them for something like this to work.

 

[Peter Parka]

Why's this got around to national health care? That isn't a socialist thing at all.

 

[satinbutterfly]

Why's this got around to national health care? That isn't a socialist thing at all.

Many Americans disagree, and feel that national health care is a step in that direction, hence the worry. Our health care choices will no longer be our own, they will be the government's. Socialism is exactly that... taking away the individual choices for the good of the whole.

 

[Peter Parka]

Many Americans disagree, and feel that national health care is a step in that direction, hence the worry. Our health care choices will no longer be our own, they will be the government's. Socialism is exactly that... taking away the individual choices for the good of the whole.

Many Americans are wrong them, all political parties over here from extreme right to extreme left support the national health service.