Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
When I said "If Medicare for all is implemented then our government would be the only provider of healthcare." he claimed that was saying it would be identical the British healthcare system. Since I don't know much about the British system I cannot say that ours would be identical to theirs. That is where Jeffery was wrong. I did not make any comparison of Medicare for all with the British system. When our government funds something, be it Medicare or anything else, it makes the rules. Governors do have some leeway in the implementation of those rules but our federal government still writes them.
Thank you for that clarification. Now, I think, I can fill in some blanks.

Not speaking specifically for Jeff, but I and other "liberals" are used to the word "socialism" being bandied about loosely by so-called "conservatives" for any policy that smacks of human consideration or government support, generally. As a result, I think we have been habituated to "going there" whenever some issues, like Medicare, are raised and criticized broadly.

The UK, somewhat uniquely, has a National Health Service, doctors employed by the government in government-operated hospitals and clinics. It is true "socialized medicine". In the United States we only have a few such services - e.g. military hospitals, the Veterans hospitals and the Indian Health Services - where the "means of production" are actually government-owned and operated.

Other countries, like Canada, have single-payer health insurance systems. That is vastly different. Medical decisions are made independently of government, but payments are made directly or of government funds. While government may influence the system, it does not control it.

The United States has an amalgamation of "systems" (which is why it is so broken). Some services, as noted above, are government provided. Some are provided by private medical services. Some are paid by government agencies (e.g., Medicaid, FEBP), or third parties (e.g., business, unions, insurance systems), who make coverage decisions. Medicare is actually a hybrid system. Some is paid directly by the government; some by the government, but through private insurance providers; some directly by third party insurance providers.

There are several versions of "Medicare for all" being proposed, so it is pretty hard to make definitive arguments about what it means. Mostly it is about "universal coverage" as a goal.