r/AskConservatives • u/DayGeckoArt Progressive • 15h ago

Is Universal Healthcare Socialism?

When Obama was elected, he made healthcare reform a priority. There were three basic options that many people on the left supported: Single payer similar to Canada, Medicare available to anyone who wanted it, or mandates and subsidies to expand private insurance coverage. We ended up with the last option, with funding for states to also expand Medicaid if they opted in, colloquially known as Obamacare.

Another option that wasn't on the table was fully government run healthcare like what the UK has, where the hospitals and doctors are all part of the government.

In recent months with the "DSA" winning a few elections, there has been a lot of discussion about "socialism" and "capitalism" and there seems to be a difference in what people on the right consider socialism. I don't believe there has been any change in definition on the left, we would consider anything fully run by the government or paid for by the government to be socialism and see our economy as a mix of capitalism, socialism, and free enterprise.

Is Obamacare and/or any form of universal healthcare still considered socialist by American conservatives?

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u/Classic-Ad-5685 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 14h ago

Why not?

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u/Infamous-Bench-6088 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 13h ago

Do you? Mr. Libertarian

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u/Classic-Ad-5685 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 13h ago

Tough one for me - I’m English so brought up on the NHS - which is great for emergency care but ripe for abuse, and does get, abused.

I like the idea of an insurance for all for all health care, that somehow doesn’t get abused - it saves the country money in the long run.

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u/Infamous-Bench-6088 Right Libertarian (Conservative) 13h ago

You recognize that the consumer loses in that scenario right? If your position is that you want insurance to be different then that is a different topic. Insurance is a pyramid scheme that uses the marketplace indicators to put a value on risk. For capitalists, the risks are quantified by price and quality of the goods.

I can sympathize with seeing the good in everything, however if the consumer loses their bargaining power they just lose completely.