So far as I can tell, the Republican plan for health care tends to be calling Democratic ideas "socialized medicine." But a new poll out of the Harvard School of Public Health suggests that may be an increasingly ineffective strategy. The researchers conducted a survey asking folks if they knew the term (if they had no idea what "socialized medicine was, they weren't included in follow-up questions) and then asking them some questions about it. The results aren't encouraging for the Rudy Giulianis of the world. First they asked whether socialized medicine would be better or worse than what we have now:
So, a plurality think we'd be better off with socialized medicine. Then, the researchers dug in, offering up some statements about socialized medicine and asking if that's what the respondent thought it was. In general, folks believed it to mean the government guarantees, and pays for, health insurance. They didn't think it meant your doctor lost control:
Then, to cap it off, the researchers gave a couple examples of systems and asked if they were socialized or not. Most folks thought Medicare is socialized medicine (it isn't). Some new that the Veteran's Health Administration is. And a pretty fair percentage thought private HMOs qualified:
All in all it's pretty encouraging stuff for those of us who'd like to see an actual discussion on the issue, and pretty idscouraging for those hoping a simple two word smear could shut the topic down.
So, a plurality think we'd be better off with socialized medicine. Then, the researchers dug in, offering up some statements about socialized medicine and asking if that's what the respondent thought it was. In general, folks believed it to mean the government guarantees, and pays for, health insurance. They didn't think it meant your doctor lost control:Then, to cap it off, the researchers gave a couple examples of systems and asked if they were socialized or not. Most folks thought Medicare is socialized medicine (it isn't). Some new that the Veteran's Health Administration is. And a pretty fair percentage thought private HMOs qualified:All in all it's pretty encouraging stuff for those of us who'd like to see an actual discussion on the issue, and pretty idscouraging for those hoping a simple two word smear could shut the topic down. 
