re: Exactly
...furthemore, the healthcare doesn't even need to be 'socialized', just publicly available for those who genuinely need it. Why have universal health care for those who otherwise could afford it? That would be descending into ideological socialism for its own sake, IMO.
This is a very sensible statement. But if you approach, say, Ted Kennedy, with the idea of making health care assistance means-tested, a system that would accomplish the goal of insuring that the poor have access to health care, he opposes it violently.
So, I would suspect that socialism for its own sake, and the political power inherent in making such an important need a government monopoly, is in fact the motivation for some who are supporting universal health care.