Universal health care should be implemented in the United States

This debate has been very fun. May the best debater win. I want to thank my opponent for posting his argument. My opponent believes that healthcare is a right, and not a service. Basically, he is saying that the right to live is a service, and not a right. This is because if you are uninsured, then you will not be able to receive vaccinations or any medical treatment if you get sick, which is necessary if you want to live. I find this very un-american and unethical. Everyone, no matter how "unlucky" they are, should have the right to live. My opponent suggests that the majority of people in the United States are ignorant concerning healthcare. This may be. However, our government was founded on a democracy. People may be ignorant about many things. However, if the people vote for it, then it is the responsibility of the government to "make it happen", so to speak. Currently, over 66 percent of the American people want it. Now, I want to quote two paragraphs from: . http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com... "Most insurance companies are for profit corporations and as such have a CEO, CFO, president, board of directors, salespersons, other employees, and shareholders to which dividends must be paid. Therefore the total amount of money any insurance company can payout is the total amount of insurance premiums collected, plus any income or loss made on the investment of those premiums, minus the salary of the CEO, minus the salary of the CFO, minus the salary of the President, minus the salary of board of directors, minus the salaries and bonuses of salespersons, minus the salaries of other employees, minus the dividends paid to shareholder. This scenario works well for insuring just about everything except health care. In order to cover those large non-healthcare expenses, insurance companies must attempt to insure only healthy people thus denying many with preexisting conditions any coverage. They must deny as many surgeries and procedures they can get away with and they must deny many medications. " Basically, this means that insurance companies don't care about their customers. They care on only making profit. As a result, insurance companies deny as many surgeries and medications as possible. A strong and clear example of this is the story I narrated in the first round of this debate about Nataline Sarkisyan. There are many other examples of this. Using this, we can say that drastic change is needed in out healthcare system. We have tried PPO's and HMO's (Preferred Provider Organization and Health Maintenance Organizations), but they fail to reduce the cost and insure everyone. Our only other option is to implement universal healthcare. Now, I want to express why we shouldn't we let people buy better health care if they can afford it. Whenever we allow the wealthy to buy better care, health care for the rest of us (middle class and lower) suffers. Programs for the poor become poor programs. For instance, because Medicaid doesn't serve the wealthy, the payment rates are low and many physicians refuse to see Medicaid patients. Advocates who say that medicaid should be improved are disregarded because the beneficiaries are not considered politically important. However, if the wealthy are forced to rely on the same health system as the poor, they will use their political power to assure that the health system is well funded. . http://www.pnhp.org... I want to include why a universal healthcare system will benefit the government. With universal healthcare, the government will save an average of $400 billion per year. "$400 billion could be saved each year, enough to pay for a single payer system and to eliminate all co-pays and deductables," said Almberg, speaker behalf of the PNHP. . http://www.pww.org... To end my round, I will provide a link which will lead you to a table comparing the costs of universal healthcare compared to the current healthcare system. . http://www.grahamazon.com... I want to thank everyone who votes, and I want to thank my opponent for a very fun yet educational debate. Again, may the best debater win.