Agent Steel wrote:I'm really torn on this topic and I can't make up my mind where I stand. I need help. Can someone please help me figure out the answer to this question?
I don't know where to start. I feel like I've looked into many different points from both sides and I see good points on both sides.
I'm just looking for someone to help me understand which position I should take.
It's a complex issue because while health care and education are not public goods -- they are both excludable and rivalrous -- they are market failure goods in that they cannot be provided efficiently in the free market. In education there are principal-agent problems, information asymmetries, etc. that make the free market ineffective. In the case of health care, there are also the problems of artificial scarcity caused by patent monopolies, professional licensing restrictions, etc., and distortions caused by extensive government involvement.
I don't think health care and education should be free because people tend not to respect things they get for free, but there are good reasons why they should be provided on a heavily subsidized basis. The details are a matter for debate and economic analysis, but I would favor tax-funded public health insurance with small deductibles, combined with private provision for those who want to pay for a higher (more expensive) level of care. Education should be largely publicly funded, but privately provided.
IMO the effect of private health insurance in the USA has been almost entirely malign, with private firms doing everything they can to increase premiums and reduce care in pursuit of profits. Other countries get better results for far less money through public provision. If you think public health care is expensive, try public illness. Likewise, if you think public education is expensive, try public ignorance. American public schools are of very uneven quality because of the funding model, and get average results well below those in other advanced countries.