Single-Payer Healthcare

INTRODUCTION Though I intended to have this debate follow an entirely different format, I will provide some additional arguments in favour of single-payer, and I hope my opponent will consider them and rationally refute them. ARGUMENTS The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative provides some key statistics about healthcare here in the United States [1]. Here they are copied and pasted. The U.S. has a higher infant mortality rate and lower life expectancy than comparable countries. (WHO 2007, Commonwealth Fund 2007) The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality among high-income countries (13 in 100,000), and also the highest rate of C-Sections (32%, as opposed to a WHO recommended 5-15%) 45,000 people die each year simply because they have no health insurance (American Journal of Public Health 2009) Around 50 million people do not have health insurance. (Center for American Progress 2009) Of those who are insured, at least 25 million are underinsured. They often forgo care because of high deductibles and co-pays. (Commonwealth Fund 2008) 700,000 families go bankrupt each year just by trying to pay for their health care – even though three quarters of them are insured. (Health Affairs 2006). In comparison, the five largest insurance companies made a combined profit of around $12 billion in 2009. (Department of Health and Human Services 2010) U.S. has fewer doctors and nurses than other high-income countries. (WHO 2007) Hospitals and doctors are disproportionately located in wealthier areas. Public hospitals are closing in areas where they are most needed. The U.S. ranks lowest among high-income countries in its primary care infrastructure. There is a projected shortage of 44,000 primary care doctors within the next 15 years. (WHO, Health Affairs 2008) The rights of people of color are violated: e.g., the 10-year survival rate for Black people of people with cancer is 60% for Whites and 48% for African Americans. (SEER cancer statistics, also Office of Minority Health) The quality of care given to people of color is generally lower, including in the treatment of cancer, heart failure, and pneumonia. (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2009) While immigrants are generally healthier than the average citizen upon arrival in the United States, their health tends to deteriorate the longer they remain in the country. (“Unhealthy assimilation", Demography, May 2006) Women are more likely than men to forgo needed health care due to cost-related access barriers. (Commonwealth Fund 2007) Women’s right to non-discrimination is violated through increasingly restricting those services only women use, reproductive health care. Let us also look at the Huffington Post for more support. Kavitha A. Davidson wrote in 2013, “It’s remarkable how low America places in health care efficiency: among the 48 countries included in the Bloomberg study, the U.S. ranks 46th, outpacing just Serbia and Brazil. Once that sinks in, try this one on for size: the U.S. ranks worse than China, Algeria, and Iran,” [2]. Her article, The Most Efficient Health Care Systems In The World, provides some additional infographics that I urge my opponent to look at. This, though it does not exactly defend single-payer or support it, is a curious source to examine in terms of healthcare statistics: http://www.cdc.gov... Davidson continues, “But the sheer numbers are really what’s humbling about this list: the U.S. ranks second in health care cost per capita ($8,608), only to be outspent by Switzerland ($9,121) — which, for the record, boasts a top-10 health care system in terms of efficiency. Furthermore, the U.S. is tops in terms of health care cost relative to GDP, with 17.2 percent of the country’s wealth spent on medical care for every American. In other words, the world’s richest country spends more of its money on health care while getting less than almost every other nation in return.” Now, ViceRegent, let me utilize the Merriam-Webster definition of theft. It is either “the act of stealing; specifically: the felonious taking and removing of personal property with intent to deprive the rightful owner of it,” or “an unlawful taking (as by embezzlement or burglary) of property.” Both of these definitions mean virtually the same thing. What is taxation? It is the government mandate on citizens paying a sum of their wealth to them, either in the form of sales tax, income tax, property tax, payroll tax, or corporate tax. Never—unless you rig an election—will you have 100% of the electorate choose one and the same candidate or party. To the population of the country that did not consent to a certain tax rate or system—whether it is a third of the electorate, or 45%, or whatever number—okay, I can see how they see it as theft, but legally speaking, it is not theft, for it does not fit the second definition. It fits the first part of the first definition, the “act of stealing.” As society will always have thievery, what kind of theft is preferable to you? Insurance companies ripping you off and bankrupting you with hospital bills and corporations taking from you your prosperity, or government mandating a certain payment of your wealth or income or purchase so that not only you but the entire nation can enjoy some sense of financial and social security? I was not intending to get into a broader conversation with ViceRegent about the merits of taxation and the role of government. But now that he insists on discussing it, let me say this: Do you want a standing army? Neocons take such pride in their military, I thought you would too. Funded by taxpayer dollars. Do you want and need roads? How about schools? A people’s government? The effect of private healthcare? Without government interference and a Progressive movement, this: http://www.usatoday.com... Without government interference and a Progressive movement, this: http://www.washingtonpost.com... The universal healthcare programs of all these industrialized nations do have their unique differences. Canada operates a bit differently than Denmark, which operates a bit differently than Germany, which operates a bit differently than Portugal… point made. Here, it is a debate of whether we should do it and what the morality and merits of this system are. If either of us were to post a full budget and calculate specific tax revenue requirements, well, we would either have to be economists, members of the Ways and Means Committee, or just really, really good at math. Can we do it? Oh yes, we can. Should we do it. My moral code says yes. And the numbers say it too. SOURCES[1] http://www.nesri.org... [2] http://www.huffingtonpost.com... [3] http://www.merriam-webster.com...