Why is Medicare OK but Obamacare is "Socialized Medicine"?

The baby boomers are not criticizing Medicare because they started using Medicare at age 65 last year and will continue for the next 15 years.

Obamacare is not the same as Medicare which is a subsidized program.

The individual mandate of Obamacare is a concept where everyone buys private health insurance from insurance companies listed on a state exchange. The government's involvement is in giving the individual tax credits or the IRS dunning you with a penalty if you are not insured. The government does not have to pay for people who are uninsured, and the reforms enable every person to get insured regardless of finances or health. Insurance is not a product, it is a service.

Congress has often used the Commerce Clause to justify exercising legislative power over the activities of states and their citizens, leading to significant and ongoing controversy regarding the balance of power between the federal government and the states.

It's not hypocritical because the Boomers (and the rest of us) are FORCED to pay into Medicare...so in that respect we believe that if we are being FORCED to pay for Medicare, then we should be able to get some benefit from it.

I'd gladly not take Medicare if I had the choice to NOT have to pay into it.

Obamacare is not socialized medicine and nobody is making that claim. It forces people to purchase a product from a private entity, and many (including myself) believe this is an unconstitutional government overreach.

They are both socialized medicine, filled with outrageous administrative costs and fraud. I am going for Ron Paul's plan that is basically ignored by the media. His plan is that you buy your own plan, and can get credit against your tax liability. this would bring millions more Americans into the health care market, reducing cost of the plans and insure many more than Obamacare ever will.

Because Medicare is an insurance plan that the beneficiaries have paid into and have the opportunity to drop out of.

Well GOPers are also against medicare. But they know they can use the fact that obamacare would replace medicare to frighten uninformed people away from the new health care people. They're just playing lesser of two evils with this particular issue. Once they get obama care repealed, then they can turn their attention to repealing medicare and social security.

hypocritical, yes.

it's just something else for the Republican Cult to complain about to shift attention away for all their mistakes and corruption.

They screamed 'socialism' when Social Security was introduced, but none of them refuse to cash in their social security checks when they need them.

They have no problem with the socialized healthcare provided by the taxpayers to the troops either.

Because generation outsource know their dad growing up would not approve.