You Decide

Should the United States adopt a single-payer, universal health care plan?

Think you know where you stand?

In 2006, the number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose to 47 million — up from 39.9 million just eight years ago. This includes 9 million children under the age of 19 and 12.6 million women of childbearing age.

To many critics, it’s inexcusable that a country as wealthy and powerful as the United States does not provide comprehensive health care, particularly when many other industrialized capitalist democracies have proven that it can be done.

Advocates of a single-payer system — under which a government-run organization collects all health care fees and pays out all health care costs — argue that it would provide comprehensive care, improve the doctor-patient relationship and reduce costs.

Opponents argue a single-payer system would increase bureaucracy and taxes while ultimately undermining the quality of health care in the United States. The beleaguered Medicare system, they argue, proves that an American single-payer system is doomed to fail due to bureaucracy and inefficiency.

How secure are you in your opinion? During the course of this activity, we will ask you four times: Should the United States adopt a single-payer, universal health care plan? Based on your responses, we will argue the opposite points of view. Only your final vote will count toward the results of this poll.

Nothing about the issues facing the candidates and American voters in 2008 is black and white. With these You Decide activities, you can explore both sides of an issue, put your own critical thinking to work, and discuss the pros and cons with others. In the end, perhaps you will ask different — and better — questions than those presented here.

 

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