StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Is there any where I can get some good statistics and articles to defend universal health care? I'm in a debate with someone whose thrown this gem of an article at me:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1973.cfm

and I can see where its wrong, but I can't find the stats to rebut it.

CarsonPalmer wrote:Is there any where I can get some good statistics and articles to defend universal health care? I'm in a debate with someone whose thrown this gem of an article at me:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1973.cfm

and I can see where its wrong, but I can't find the stats to rebut it.

The article presents little more than a series of anecdotes and cherry-picked evidence as though it were data. It's primary fault, though, is that it pretends that every American has access to health care as if the 40 million who don't somehow don't factor into things. It then pretends that insurers don't try and limit and ration people's access to health care. The article also continually points out supposed "problems" with the Canadian health care system without providing any evidence whatsoever that the situation is better in the U.S. Such behaviour is a clear indicator that there is no such evidence available, and that it is likely that the situation in the U.S. is similar or worse. Always remember that the right wing is lying to you.

Heritage.org is a crypto-racist reactionary right-wing extremist site. In general, that's usually true of any political group with the word "heritage" in its name.

Darth Wong wrote:Heritage.org is a crypto-racist reactionary right-wing extremist site. In general, that's usually true of any political group with the word "heritage" in its name.

I know, but I'm trying to do a little bit of enlightening on a Catholic board, which means I can't just dismiss the source out of hand (its a fairly right wing board, but the people aren't too nasty so I've made some progress).

http://dll.umaine.edu/ble/U.S.%20HCweb.pdf

Here you go. This document actually changed my mind on this issue back in '05

Many thanks!

Guys, sorry for this necro, but I'm not sure if this merits it's own thread.

Arguing with a libertarian who threw out "Well, I guess we should just make food free because that's needed for the well being of the population, huh?"

How the hell do I respond to that? I already posted that "making a trip to the grocery once every 2-3 weeks is much easier for the majority of the poplation to execute on it's own than medical costs, so that's an asinine argument." Does anyone else have any other recommendations?

Lonestar wrote:Guys, sorry for this necro, but I'm not sure if this merits it's own thread.

Arguing with a libertarian who threw out "Well, I guess we should just make food free because that's needed for the well being of the population, huh?"

How the hell do I respond to that? I already posted that "making a trip to the grocery once every 2-3 weeks is much easier for the majority of the poplation to execute on it's own than medical costs, so that's an asinine argument." Does anyone else have any other recommendations?

Actually, we do provide free food to the needy: it's called welfare, or in the US, the food stamp program. Soup kitchens also do this. Does he think soup kitchens are an evil socialist idea?

The difference with health care is that its costs are unpredictable and can easily wipe out even an affluent family, so it makes sense to provide it for everyone, not just the very poor as the US currently does. Besides, gluttony is not an issue with health care. Food is an unusual product, because it is a necessity of life at the lower end, but it scales up to luxury product as well. At the lower end, we do provide it for free; does he think we should stop doing that?