The advocates of single-payer health care become very testy when it is equated with socialized medicine. Single-payer is much different from socialized medicine, they tell us impatiently, because the former does not involve actual ownership of hospitals or employment of clinicians. Under a single-payer system, we are told, the government only controls the money. GruntDoc quotes a mordant parable from Panda Bear, MD that illustrates the inanity of that position.
If you were to get in a scrap with a mean old junkyard dog and he managed to sink his teeth into your scrotum, from that point forward the dog is totally in charge. You may have the complete use of the rest of your body and even though, from a real estate point of view, the dog has laid claim to a fairly small portion of your property, where that dog goes you will go and you heart, mind, and soul will follow willingly.
At present, the real-life animal that most nearly approximates Panda’s metaphorical junk yard dog is CMS. As anyone who has dealt extensively with that behemoth will tell you, it is a beast that does not hesitate to exploit its grip that “small portion of your property” called reimbursement in order to impose all manner of wacky bureaucratic and regulatory caprices. Anyone who believes that such behavior would not characterize a single-payer health care system should return to his alma mater and demand a refund.
In the end, the difference between single-payer health care and socialized medicine is illusory.
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