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«This House Would ban private healthcare in countries where there is a state alternative»
Should we allow markets to interfere with every aspect of human life? What if they improve things?
Science, Sociology

Having access to good healthcare is important for everyone. This is a debate about whether it is morally right to charge for healthcare, and if there are any benefits to having private healthcare in a country where there is state-provided healthcare.

Proposition
  • Morally unjust. Healthcare is a vital thing which everyone needs. It should be a human right and it’s immoral to attach a price to it.
  • The best resources. The most skilled doctors and most specialised equipment would previously have been in private hospitals can now reach the wider public.
  • Encourages investment. People who are used to paying for high quality private healthcare now have to use public healthcare and therefore they have an incentive to invest to improve quality.
  • Government duty. Private healthcare makes the best resources unavailable to the majority of the public. The government have a duty to ensure the best quality of healthcare for the most people.

Opposition
  • Private hospitals take pressure off the public system. People going to private clinics shorten the queues for everyone else.
  • Doctors leaving. Doctors who are in medicine for the money may just move to different professions, or go to different countries to practise private medicine.
  • Investment won’t happen. It is cheaper for the richest people to go abroad for private healthcare than it is to invest enough money into a new state system.
  • People should have the right to choose. If people have the money, they should be allowed to pay for shorter waiting times.
Credible Resources
Banning private health care kills: Equality at the cost of human lives | Profitable and Moral
Jaana Woiceshyn discusses the issues someone may face if they lose the option of private healthcare... Read more
Profit, not patients: the risks of private medicine | The Guardian
Ultimately, private providers have their shareholders’ interests at heart, not their patients’. A GP and celebrated writer shares his experiences of how the healthcare system works Read more
More resources
How to use it?
Short Preparation
Long Preparation
Support Students

Split students into teams of 6 and assign them either proposition/opposition.

Play the video and then give students 15 minutes to prepare.

At the end of preparation time, start the debate.

This develops students ability to think quickly, critically and creatively.


2 Comments

  1. Seun I

    This is wonderful!

  2. Darya P

    great! thanks a million!

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