In a socialized health care system, one does not pay directly for health care services, but is insured to receive these services through a pooled system financed and managed largely by a public authority. It exists in various forms of practice in several industrialized countries, including all the countries of Western Europe and Canada, where it was adopted in the early 1960s [1].

A private health care system is premised on the assumption that health service should be treated as a private good based on the choice of the individual and subject to one's financial status. It just so happens that an individual's health affects not only that individual's welfare, but also promotes the welfare of others who do not share the cost of the health care of that individual. Health is unlike any other asset, in that, it is inalienable by the individual who possesses it and thus, if this right to health care is left up to the individual's choice and ability to fund the service, then, not only may the individual suffer, but by the same token, society may also suffer. This does not mean that the government should go so far as to control one's daily diet, but it should play a major role in the funding and delivery of health care. A socialized health care system separates the availability of health care services from the financial ability of the receiver, and hence asserts equality among the partakers of the system.

In the socialized health care system, health care is managed in a flexible way where a large part of the health care infrastructure-that is to say, hospitals-is owned and managed by public authorities on behalf of society as a whole. The public sector is also the only insurer of health care for every member of the society through a system of health premiums to be paid by everyone with the exception of those who cannot afford it and get free medical care as members of the society. There are also private health care providers, physicians and clinics, who negotiate payments with the public health authority for each specified service. The professional associations and unions negotiate the structure and level of fee and wages with the public sector health authority.

The key benefit of a public health care system include health care for an individual or family which does not depend on the individual's or family's financial circumstances. Each member of the society can receive the same health care services irrespective of income or financial position. The individual's or family's health care premium is based on the same egalitarian principle [3]. The cost of society's health care is borne by the government through its general or specifically designated revenue.

According to most of the comparative studies carried out on the American system, which is largely a private health care system, the systems in Western Europe and Canada tend to show that their socialized health care systems are better in several ways. First, the socialized systems of Western Europe and Canada have lower costs of health care services per person [2]. It is a fact that the per capita cost of the U.S. health care system is twice as high as countries in which there is socialized medicine, such as England [2]. Western Europe and Canada also have far more classless access to health care services, meaning access to health care is independent of the individual's health status, financial circumstances, age, gender, and employment status. Furthermore, the overall health outcome indicators in the United States are lower then those in countries with socialized medicine [2].

Many people have the misconception that socialized medicine is a Communist ideal, which is not true. It is based simply on the principle that basic health is an inalienable right of the individual and should not be left to depend on the financial status, age, gender, or race of the individual. Socialized health care, in addition to being egalitarian, tends to be less costly to the society than a private, or market-based, health care system. A private health care system is good for health care practitioners: physicians, health care insurers, and private clinics and hospitals. In the socialized health care system, consumers can and do play a direct role in the health care system as voters and taxpayers.

Ahmed Khan is a second year pre-medical student majoring in Psychology.