I attended the Obama health care rally at the University of Maryland last Thursday. There was a handful of students demonstrating against health care outside the rally. I thought I would engage of a few of them to see what they were opposed to and what their reasoning was. A futile effort, I guess and I should not have been surprised at what I learned.
I spoke to a few students and when I would engage one, a few other would join. The general tenor was that government involvement in health care was bad and that the private sector was doing a good job with health care. One young man had a sign with a Margaret Thatcher quote on it. I asked him, "When Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, did she try to do away with the British National Health Service?" He told me that he could not remember. I told him that, in fact, Margarer Thatcher did not try to get rid of the National Health Service, because the British public likes the British National Health Service.
Another made the point that medical innovation occurs in the U.S. I asked if he knew that penicillin was discovered in the UK? That the first joint replacement occurred in France? Of course he did not.
I asked others if they knew what percentage of health care costs Medicare spends on administration? They did not know. I told them 3%. I then asked if they knew what percentage the health insurance companies spent on administration? They did not know. I told them 20%. One guy seemed to think that was okay, because it was the private sector doing it.
I asked them what percentage of GNP the U.S. spends on health care? They did not know. I told them that it was 17%, as opposed to other developed countries, which max out at 10%.
One made the point that government would cap what doctors get paid. I told them that insurance companies do that now and that, in fact, my doctor does not accept my health insurance. I work for a major corporation and am covered by one of the largest health insurance companies and I have to pay my doctor out of pocket before I submit a claim.
The whole conversation went like this. It was sad, really, because they could not defend their position other than to say that the private sector was better and that Social Security and the Post Office were going broke. They believe what they believe, in spite of the facts.
The unfortunate part is that these were University of Maryland college students and they should know better. They are young and full of passion and emotion and uninformed or they choose not to inform themselves. When I left I told them that they were doing a great thing by standing up for their beliefs, but that they should educate themselves on the facts. The debate was no contest, really, and unfair. I am probably older than their parents and I have much more experience debating than they do. I also know my facts in the health care debate.