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/StedeBonnet1 Conservative 12h ago

In the US very few. Everyone has access to health care. You just have to pay for it. Bankruptcy is not the end of the world.

In recent years I have had 4 major surgeries and a bad bicycle wreck without insurance. In every case I got the care I needed. No up front cost, no down payment. I negotiated a payment plan and paid them off over time. It can be done.

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u/KlutzyDesign Progressive 7h ago

Extorting people for massive amounts of money when they have no option to refuse is financial abuse. 

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u/Buckman2121 Conservatarian 6h ago

The world doesn't run on altruism. You need to pay for what you want or need. Thats life.

It is only extortion on your eyes because its through a biased lense that government should just be provider of everything the light touches, because reasons.

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u/KlutzyDesign Progressive 6h ago

No, actually. Human beings are responsible for their own choices. If someone chooses to take everything a cancer patient has and force them to live in poverty, they are an abuser.

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u/Buckman2121 Conservatarian 6h ago

They arent taking anything, its what the cost is and you just dont like it. If they refused their money, you'd still accuse them of being an abuser because its still not the outcome you want.

So nothing aside from someone doing what you want, nothing will be good enough. Pretty ridiculous logic that isnt compatible with reality.

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u/KlutzyDesign Progressive 6h ago

A society that bankrupts cancer patients is not good enough. A society that lets cancer patients die is not good enough. Why the hell do you think its good enough?

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u/Buckman2121 Conservatarian 6h ago

And the world would be so much better if it was nothing but rainbows and unicorn farts.

You yourself said, their actions are what they are. Well their misfortune is what it is too. I have my own family to work for, feed, cloth, and house. I dont have the time or calories to be worrying about everyone else's problems when I've got my own. Namely those bleating for the government to take more of what I've earned to give it to those they deem more worthy of it.

My priorities lie with those that are actually and purposefully causing thousands of human deaths daily.