In an NPR interview in 2013, Mackey compared the Obama administration's healthcare law to "fascism" instead of socialism, stating, "speaking, it's more like fascism. Socialism is where the government owns the means of production. In fascism, the government doesn't own the means of production, but they do control itand that's what's happening with our health care programs and these reforms." The day following the interview, Mackey wrote that he regretted having made the remark, stating that he "made a poor word choice to describe U.S. healthcare system." Instead, he called it "government-controlled health care".