Socialized Medicine?
As with just about everything else, the best systems incorporate some concepts of "socialism" and some concepts of capitalism.
Socialized medicine presupposes that the Sovereign employs all of the healthcare practitioners, owns the hospitals, clinics, labs, rehab facilities, and so forth, and their services are offered to the Public at low, or nominal, cost (other than paying taxes). There are many downsides to this paradigm, mainly related to the fact that when things are "free" their use is abused, and the fact that Government fucks everything up generally.
A "capitalist" medical paradigm presumes that the practitioners are either independent professionals or are employed by private entities, usually with a profit motive. The downside is that only those with sufficient resources will get "good" medical care, and medical decisions may be made with a view to maximizing profit rather than the overall best outcome (e.g., performing expensive surgery on an elderly person with means, in order to keep them alive for another month).
The VA medical system in our country is a good example of a hybrid system. The VA employs practitioners and owns facilities, but it also contracts out certain of its healthcare responsibilities to the "private sector," when it is not able to provide the care that the law requires. FOR MOST VETERANS, the VA does a very good job, but our cynical and self-aggrandizing Fourth Estate likes to focus on the VA's failures rather than its successes. [I'm a veteran].
THIS IS PROBABLY THE MODEL THAT WOULD SERVE OUR COUNTRY BEST, OVERALL.
There are two elephants in the room with respect to U.S. medical care: First, the presence of health insurance for most people, and Second, the mountain of government money (mainly Medicare and Medicaid) flooding the system. The healthcare industry (the doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc) operates to maximize its exploitation of insurance money and government money, with the best interests of patients coming in Third, and the best interests of the overall Society coming in last.
As a result, the "Healthcare and Health Insurance Industry" is by far the greatest expense in our society. It is literally too big to control in any meaningful way.
For most people it works out well, but economically, it is a nightmare.