Supporters of
Children's Health Insurance Program (2007).
Introduction
In the 2008 presidential campaign, it has been
universal coverage
deployed against every Democratic candidate's
have been hard at
health care plan--as well as the Massachusetts
Democratic presidential nominee Sen.
work trying to
reforms thengovernor Mitt Romney (R)
Barack Obama (IL) has proposed an ambitious
signed into law in 2006.5
plan to reform America's health care sector.
neutralize the
According to his campaign website, "Obama
To say that this epithet gets under the Left's
epithet "socialized
will sign a universal health care plan into law by
skin would be putting it mildly. For the past
the end of his first term in office. His plan will
year, supporters of universal coverage have been
medicine."
provide affordable, quality health care coverage
hard at work trying to neutralize, in the words
for every American."1
of Rutgers professor David Greenberg, the "tal-
ismanic power" of this "old slayer of reform
Obama proposes to accomplish those
proposals past," and recast the phrase as a piece
goals with a number of reforms. He would cre-
of "atavistic Cold Warera alarmism."6
ate a "National Health Insurance Exchange,"
where Americans could choose among a num-
"`Socialized medicine' is the bogeyman
ber of private insurance plans, or opt for a new
that just won't die," wrote Yale political scien-
tist Jacob Hacker in the Washington Post.7 In a
health plan run by the federal government and
modeled on the Medicare program. Through
study for the left-leaning Urban Institute,
the Exchange, Obama would have the federal
researchers Stan Dorn and John Holahan con-
government regulate the content and price of
clude, "It is a significant exaggeration to claim
all health insurance plans offered in the
that proposals like [the] plans advanced by the
United States. Obama would require employ-
leading Democratic presidential candidates
represent steps toward socialized medicine."8
ers to contribute to the cost of their employ-
ees' health insurance or pay a tax. He would
In April 2008, the Urban Institute held a pub-
require all parents to obtain health insurance
lic forum titled "What Is Socialized Medicine
for their children. And he would expand exist-
and Is It Relevant to Health Care Reform?"
ing government health insurance programs
where scholars dismissed claims that Obama's
such as Medicaid and the State Children's
and similar plans would move America toward
Health Insurance Program.2
socialized medicine.9 The New York Times, the
Associated Press, and National Public Radio
Rather than engage in a detailed critique
of Obama's health-care plan,3 many critics
have all run ostensibly objective stories with the
prefer to label it "socialized medicine."4 Is
same purpose.10 Of those organizations, only the
that a fair description of the Obama plan and
Associated Press bothered to solicit input from
similar plans?
anyone who thinks such claims are valid.
Over the past year, prominent media out-
Perhaps the only fair hearing the charge
lets and respectable think tanks have investi-
has received came during a presidential
gated that question and come to a unani-
debate in 2007, when a journalist likened
mous answer: no. Those investigations leave
Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY) health care
much to be desired.
reform plan to socialized medicine.
"I have never advocated socialized medi-
cine," Clinton responded testily. When her
The Bogeyman That
interlocutor objected, "But that's what univer-
Just Won't Die
sal medicine is," Clinton turned the question
back on him. "Do you think Medicare is
socialized medicine?" she asked. "To a degree,
The phrase "socialized medicine" has been
it is," he replied. "Well, then, you are in a small
used to defame Harry Truman's proposed
minority in America," Clinton responded.11
national health insurance program (1945),
Medicare (1965), Bill Clinton's Health Security
Actually, he's not. A recent poll by Harris
Act (1993), and proposals to expand the State
Interactive and the Harvard School of Public
2