I don't know that anybody can define socialize medicine, but nobody seems to like it, except, Terry, when Americans get government-run medicine, they really like it. The amazing thing is it's still a powerful argument. Nobody knew what it meant, but I think the idea was if you wanted to provide health care to your sick neighbor, you were a commie, and you know, during the Cold War, that was a powerful argument. The American Medical Association, the doctors, hired a PR firm, who invented the term socialized medicine.

Harry Truman wanted to provide universal health care in 1947. REID (Author, 'The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care'): Yeah. You point out in your book that that argument was actually created by a PR firm in the 1940s. One of the main arguments that we're hearing from critics of reform is that this would be socialized medicine. Reid's new book is called 'The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care.' He took his shoulder to doctors around the world, seeking alternatives to the risky surgery that was recommended for him the U.S. He spent years as a foreign correspondent for the Washington Post and lived with his family in three continents.įor his new book, he went on a global quest, searching for solutions to two health care problems: the first, our nation's health care system the second, his bad shoulder. His conclusion comes from personal experience. Reid says we can bring about fundamental change by borrowing ideas from foreign models of health care. have decided that every human being has a basic right to health care. Reid points out in his new book, all the developed countries except the U.S.

It's proving awfully difficult to change our health care system and provide care for people currently uninsured.

The Healing of America by T.R. Reid