Reply #256: No, not really

[murphyj87]

Canada does not have socialized medicine at all. Canada has a single payer system, and the two terms are mutually exclusive.

In socialized medicine, hospitals are owned and operated by the government and physicans are civil servants. Canada is not like this. US DVA and DOD health care ARE socialized medicine since they meet this definition.

In a single payer system, hospitals are independently owed and run by an independent board, and physicians are in private practice. This is the Canadian system as well, as US Medicare and US Medicaid.

You can see that a hospital cannot be owned and run by the government (socialized medicine) and independentally owned and run by an indpendent board (single payer) at the same time.

You can see that a physician cannot be a civil servant (socialized medicine) and in private practice (single payer) at the same time.