«This House Would ban private healthcare in countries where there is a state alternative»
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
Seun I
This is wonderful!
Darya P
great! thanks a million!