Socialized medicine is a term used in the United States to describe and discuss systems of universal health care—medical and hospital care for all by means of government regulation of health care and subsidies derived from taxation. Because of historically negative associations with socialism in American culture, the term is usually used pejoratively in American political discourse. The term was first widely used in the United States by advocates of the American Medical Association in opposition to President Harry S. Truman's 1947 health care initiative. It was later used in opposition to Medicare. The Affordable Care Act has been described in terms of socialized medicine, but the act's objective is rather socialized insurance, not government ownership of hospitals and other facilities as is common in other nations. Background The original meaning was confined to systems in which the government operates health care facilities and employs health care professionals. This narrower usage would apply to the British National Health Service hospital trusts and health systems that operate in other countries as diverse as Finland, Spain, Israel, and Cuba. The United States Veterans Health Administration and the medical departments of the
La medicina socializada es un término utilizado en los Estados Unidos para describir y discutir sistemas de atención sanitaria universal - cuidados médicos y hospitalarios para todos por medio de la regulación gubernamental de los cuidados de salud y subsidios derivados de impuestos. Debido a las asociaciones históricamente negativas con el socialismo en la cultura estadounidense, el término se utiliza generalmente de manera pejorativa en el discurso político estadounidense. El término fue utilizado por primera vez ampliamente en los Estados Unidos por defensores de la Asociación Médica Americana en oposición a la iniciativa de cuidados de salud del presidente Harry S. Truman de 1947. Más tarde se utilizó en oposición a Medicare. La Ley de Atención Afable ha sido descrita en términos de medicina socializada, pero el objetivo de la ley es el seguro bastante socializado, no la propiedad gubernamental de hospitales y otras instalaciones como es común en otras naciones.