It occurs to me that even private health insurance represents a kind of “socialized” medicine. If I may be so bold, I’d like to tell you what I think of private insurance: the bastard child of socialism and capitalism. The idea behind insurance is to pool resources with a larger group, so that individual members are better able to cope financially with misfortune, minimizing individual risk. Insurance companies are just the mechanism to facilitate this relationship… siphoning off money for shareholder profits. When you think about it, this community sharing of risk is a pretty socialist idea. So, when you get right down to it, you’re supporting a kind of “socialized” medicine if you’re a proponent of the insurance model of providing health care. Real capitalists would only support a straight fee for service model… only opening your checkbook when you purchase the care itself (none of this paying insurance premiums crap).
Real Americans pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, they don’t need the village to help them up.