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The United States Should Switch to a Single Payer Healthcare System

Health Care is a Perfect Duty 1. The purpose of the state is to protect our external freedom. 2. This (i.e. the duty of the state) should be understood as a protection of the means we possess. 3. Health care is a necessary way of protecting our means. 4. Thus, the state ought to provide health care If we were to accept the first premise that the state is to protect our external freedoms (i.e., our right to life, liberty, means etc.), then one must come to the conclusion that providing health care is a duty of the state. Over 45 million people are uninsured and underinsured. As I pointed out in round one, the effects of not being able to afford insurance is quite significant: 1) Two-thirds of bankruptcies are due to medical illness. 2) The uninsured are less likely to be able to fill prescriptions and more likely to pay much more of their money out-of-pocket for prescriptions. In a recent survey, one-third of uninsured Americans reported that they were unable to fill a prescription drug in the last year because of the cost.[2] 3) The uninsured are 3-4 times more likely than those with insurance to report problems getting needed medical care, even for serious conditions [Ibid] Thus the effects of being uninsured and unable to receive proper health care absolutely plays into the fundamental right to life, liberty, and means. Thus, the government should absolutely ensure that everyone can have access to health care. The Government Sometimes Needs to Act on Imperfect Duties The second premise to my opponent's first argument is that that Government should never perform imperfect duties. The first problem with this premise is that "there is virtually no philosophical consensus on what, exactly, imperfect duties are." (Schroeder) Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, there are times when the government should perform imperfect duties. If I can show either health care is an perfect duty or that the government should act on imperfect duties then I have successfully negated con's argument. In The Wealth of the Nations, by Adam Smith, Adam lists three duties of government (Smith): 1. The first duty of the sovereign, that of protecting the society from the violence and invasion of other independent societies, can be performed only by means of a military force. But the expense both of preparing this military force in time of peace, and of employing it in time of war, is very different in the different states of society, in the different periods of improvement 2. The second duty of the sovereign, that of protecting, as far as possible, every member of the society from the injustice or oppression of every other member of it, or the duty of establishing an exact administration of justice, requires, too, very different degrees of expense in the different periods of society. 3. The third and last duty of the sovereign or commonwealth is that of erecting and maintaining those public institutions and those public works, which, though they may be in the highest degree advantageous to a great society, are, however, of such a nature that the profit could never repay the expense to any individual or small number of individuals, and which it therefore cannot be expected that any individual or small number of individuals should erect or maintain. The performance of this duty requires, too, very different degrees of expense in the different periods of society. The first two duties that Adam Smith lists are within the perfect duty of Klan. The third duty, however, is an imperfect duty. Here are some examples: -- FUNDING FOR SCIENCE RESEARCH -- Space exploration has enriched our understanding of our world and universe, and also our everyday lives. Many products that we use on regular basis are a direct result of the government funding of NASA and space exploration. [4] Bill Gates notes: "Why should the government fund basic research? For the same reason that companies tend not to: because it is a public good. The benefits to society are far greater than the amount that the inteventer can capture. One of the best examples of this is the creation of the Internet. It has led to innovations that continue to change our lives, but none of the companies who deliver those innovations would ever have built it." - Bill Gates[5] Conclusion I have shown that con's basic argument is completely false. Health care is absolutely a perfect duty, and even if we say that it wasn't, the government sometimes needs to perform imperfect duties. The resolution is still affirmed. 1. http://news.harvard.edu... 2. http://www.amsa.org... 3. http://www.uark.edu... 4. https://spinoff.nasa.gov... 5. http://www.salon.com... Bibliography Schroeder, S. "Imperfect Duties, Group Obligations, and Benevolence." thttp://www1.cmc.edu... Smith, A. "An Inquiry into the Wealth of the Nations" https://en.wikisource.org...