Timmia Hearn Feldman, senior, vice president of the Young Democrats:

Considering that our country is founded on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is ridiculous that 47 million Americans have no health insurance, and millions more have significantly less than adequate insurance.

America spends a larger percent of its gross domestic product on health care than any other nation yet remains one of the few developed nations that doesn’t provide universal health care. This is because, in America, health care development has been uneven and inefficient, and because the American mindset tends to reject government control.

Today, Americans are suffering because our government, which is, after all, made up of our citizens, has failed to provide us with a safe, reliable and affordable system. Over the last decade health insurance companies have merged, causing a few mega-companies to dominate the sector. Health insurance premiums have risen four times faster than wages over the last six years. All Americans deserve to know that illness will not sink them permanently into debt, that they will be cured if there is a cure and will be able to afford prescription drugs so illness does not drag on and on.

Insurance plans are complex, and when companies are trying, at the bottom level, to make a profit, it is not safe nor fair to make Americans work out their own health care situations. Health is integral to life, liberty and happiness.

Finally, there is hope that universal health care, a right long denied, may become a reality. Both senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have plans to make health care available, easy, efficient and equal to that which members of Congress receive, while still leaving Americans the choice to go public or private. Such an achievement will be a landmark in American policy and a step toward fulfilling the still-pending dream that is America.

Alex Boyer, senior, member, Young Republicans:

First, when one analyzes what must be done with our current health care industry, one must first see it as exactly that, an industry. The entire infrastructure of the industry is based upon the simple idea that the public pays for its services, much like one would pay for the services of any other service industry.

Publicizing health care would not only raise taxes but lower the wages of all of the members of the health care industry, and generalize the services they provide. No longer will people be able to pay for the very best in health care; they would be forced into a “basic” service that is designed to cover as many situations as possible but still save the government money. Wealthier Americans, due to the progressive tax system that we have in place, will be forced to shoulder a greater portion of the burden, and still won’t be able to receive the care that they may want or need.

We also have to address the members of the health care industry. If America does adopt a public form of health care, doctors will be heavily underpaid and forced to take pay cuts in order to help lower the national debt. The best doctors will leave the country to countries with private health care systems, and Americans will have to pay from their own pockets to travel and receive their services, instead of being able to purchase a policy that covers their own personal needs.

With all that being said, I acknowledge that the current health care system we have in place needs some reform, but making the entire health care industry public is not the solution.