DDO Tier Tournament: The United States ought to guarantee universal health care for its citizens.

Universal Health Care Introduction It was previously agreed that this debate was not about Obamacare specifically. Therefore the chronology and all statistics will come from a perspective of before Obamacare. There are many strong reasons to believe that universal healthcare should be provided by the United States government. I firmly believe that the access to good health care is a right that no one should be deprived of. Argument 1: Economic The United States is one of the wealthiest, powerful, and advanced nations in the world. It would be fitting for Americans to lead the world in a revolutionary and inexpensive health care system available to all its citizens. Such a great country should not have 46.3 million people, 15.4% of the population, with no access to health care. But it does [1]. Not only that but the majority of industrialized nations, nearly all, have universal health care systems except for the United States [4]. The lack of universal health care is not superior in anyway. Take this graph for instance which compares the spending per capita and the life expectancy of several countries The United States spent more on health care per capita than any other nation for a lower life expectancy. [3] More was also spent as a percent of GDP http://www.commonwealthfund.org... The US performs poorly in many other medical areas as well such as the infant mortality rate (http://en.wikipedia.org...). In 2007 health care spending in the US totaled 2.2 trillion dollars, about 16.2 percent of the economy [1]. As wages in the US have increased the costs of health care have been rising at three times the rate. [8] At least 62.1% of US bankruptcies were related to medical expenses! [2] The lack of universal health care is incredibly difficult to maintain and it would be absurd to attempt it when there is a viable alternative. Argument 2: A VIABLE ALTERNATIVE Turning to a Universal Health Care system is the greatest option to ensure average Americans have fair accessibility to healthcare at a cheap cost. It has been estimated that switching to a Universal Health Care system could significantly help the United States economy grow. This is achieved by reducing the cost of healthcare to Americans. “The bottom line shows the projected path of real family income without reform. The higher paths show family income under different degrees of cost containment. Our numbers suggest that if we slow cost growth by 1.5 percentage points per year, family income would be about $2,600 higher in 2020 than it otherwise would have been. By 2030, it would be nearly $10,000 higher.” http://www.whitehouse.gov... This alternative is undoubtedly superior. When this nation is presented with two options, the first to maintain the current system with more spending and lower quality and the second with less spending and undisputedly higher quality, the choice is obvious. We have an obligation to do what is in the best interests of this country. Argument 3: Healthcare is a Right The Declaration of Independence grants all Americans the inalienable right to "life". The Preamble to the Constitution says the government's duty is to "promote the general welfare". The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights grants that "everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one's family, including... medical care." It is only logical that all these vastly important authorities would find it necessary to ensure all citizens have access to medical care. The right to "life" is best maintained when people can see a doctor when they get sick without the fear of going broke. "Promoting the general welfare" of citizens demands that they are not ruined by economic or physical disaster in the event someone in the family gets cancer. An incident like that is punishment enough without being forced to bankruptcy or not getting access to the care that is needed. The UN Declaration of Rights is explicit enough in its position on Universal Health Care. Argument 4: Benefits to Society Having greater access to cheap health care could actually decrease medical expenses in the US. When people are freer to go to routine checkups and physicals without the deterrent of extreme costs it is likely that fewer people will get sick. Not only that but with more of the population regularly seeing doctors, any dangerous outbreaks or diseases will be easier to contain. A healthier country could also increase productivity. Poor healthcare and shorter life spans is estimated to cost the US 65-130 billion dollars annually [6]. Many Americans fear leaving their jobs because they don't want to lose their health insurance. Having readily available insurance could encourage entrepreneurship by allowing Americans to pursue other interests without losing the insurance that was previously with their job. An increase in entrepreneurship would lead to an increase in jobs. Conclusion Overall the benefits from Universal Healthcare are to important, and the lack of Universal Healthcare is just detrimental to America economically and socially. The alternative is not efficient enough to justify keeping it. The choice is obvious: America needs a Universal Healthcare system. [1] http://www.census.gov... [2] http://www.pnhp.org... [3] http://www.who.int... [4] http://www.oecd.org... [5] http://www.who.int... [6] http://www.nap.edu... (*note- this will bring you to a site and it will ask you to create an account to download the book. Just click on the download link right under the buy link. Then click “I don’t have an account”, after that click “download as guest”. All you need is an email address to get this book for free. [7] http://www.pnhp.org... [8] http://www.health.state.mn.us...