Universal health care should be supported

I affirm. DEFINITIONS Universal health care (UHC) – Healthcare for everyone. Should – Morally obliged to (do action X) Support – participate in, believe in. OBSERVATIONS 1) No specification of locality: The significance of this is that we are not talking about specifically in the US, in Zimbabwe, in Mongolia, but as a general concept. 2) No specification of time: This means we can go to any era in this debate, as long as the idea of UHC existed during that time. 3) Nothing is mentioned about implementation: Therefore, we aren't talking about any consequences that actually arise out of a specific UHC system. If we talk about a problems that, say, X country's Y aspect of its UHC system is faulty, then we're no longer talking about UHC as a whole, but rather, nitpicking at nontopical issues. 4) The definition of support does not necessarily mean that a supporter must be registered to some sort of organization legally, nor does it mean that a supporter must be an activist. For example, let's say a person likes the idea of small government. However, just because he supports something similar to libertarianism does not mean that he has to be registered with the Libertarian Party, nor does it mean he has to participate in libertarian activities, nor does it mean he IS a libertarian, nor does it mean he needs to speak about his opinion at all. All it says is that he supports the idea. It's just the same with this topic: all this resolution is asking whether or not we should believe in the idea of universal healthcare; not that we should go out and protest for it. Value: morality Morality is defined as "the rules of right conduct; moral or virtuous conduct" by dictionary.com. The question the topic poses is a completely moral one: when we look to the purpose of health care, to actually care for health, things like economics just fall away. Is it right, or is it wrong to support UHC? But morality is too broad, so we'll narrow it down by looking at whoever achieves the value criterion the best… Value Criterion: benevolence What defines right and wrong; what defines good and bad, is if it helps other people. If you use your toaster to make breakfast, that's not really moral or immoral. The only place where morality comes in is when we have interactions with each other. Dictionary.com defines benevolence as "desire to do good to others; goodwill; charitableness", and since we are not looking to the implementation or real world effects of any specific UHC system, a good intent is all one needs to achieve what is right. My sole contention is that supporting a universal health care system encourages the concept of helping others. Using an example of a society today that does not have universal healthcare, the United States leaves the healthcare of its citizens to the "private sector". Corporations then are free to provide and deny insurance to people at will, and the people are given the idea that everyone really is out for themselves. However, by supporting a universal health care system, it enforces the exact opposite idea; that we can help each other instead of just looking out for ourselves and maybe our families. We no longer live in Hobbes's ‘State of Nature', yet today many Americans still act as if we are in an ‘every man for himself' world. It, simply put, is not. Former president John F Kennedy once said, "The links first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all. In that one world's efforts to live together, the evolution of gunpowder to its ultimate limit has warned mankind of the terrible consequences of failure." This idea that we live in a global community was not in JFK's mind alone: It has been repeated to us by many of our greatest leaders, over and over again. Yet too many people still continue to believe that everything is a war, and when one man wins, another man loses. That's not how it works with healthcare. Just because one citizen is granted insurance doesn't mean that a certain number of others need to be denied that same access. That whole mindset can be changed for the better by supporting universal health care. Universal health care supports a point of view in which we can and do help each other – something that would let us all do more of what's right.