• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

'Medicare Is a Bank Without Security Guards:' Media Exec David Goldhill vs. Princeton's Paul Starr

Views:855
@ReasonVids

David Goldhill and Paul Starr engaged in a public debate in New York City over whether the federal government should offer a Medicare-like health insurance plan to all Americans .

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

--------

On September 19 at the Soho Forum, David Goldhill, former CEO of the Game Show Network and author of the exceptional 2013 book, Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father—and How We Can Fix It, faced off against Princeton sociologist Paul Starr in a public debate over whether the federal government should offer a Medicare-like health insurance plan to all Americans. Star is the author of The Social Transformation of American Medicine: The Rise of a Sovereign Profession and the Making of a Vast Industry, which won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and the prestigious Bancroft Prize. (Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker was scheduled to debate Goldhill, but had to drop out because of a medical issue.)

The Soho Forum runs Oxford-style debates in which the audience votes on the resolution at the beginning and end of the event. The side that gains more ground is victorious. ​In this case, Goldhill won overwhelmingly by convincing about 30 percent of the audience to switch over to his side.

Starr, arguing for the affirmative, said that the Trump administration's "war of attrition against Obamacare" has put "us back in the world where people with pre-existing conditions can't get coverage." Expanding Medicare eligibility would provide the much needed "public option" that's missing from the Affordable Care Act, filling in for the inability of the private market to serve all citizens. And it "would not require turning health care in America upside down."

Goldhill, arguing for the negative, made a case that Medicare takes such an expansive definition of a health care "need" that ​it leads seniors to pursue unwise treatments that put their lives at risk.

Another issue is cost. Medicare proponents say that program's low administrative expenses are indicative of its operational efficiency. The opposite is true. "Private insurers say 'no' to things," Goldhill told the audience. "They judge appropriateness...Medicare's mandate," on the other hand, "is to say 'yes' to everything." The result is that there's $70 billion in Medicaid fraud every year, but the government doesn't count that as an expense.

In Goldhil's view, Medicare​ is controlled by special interests who've expanded the definition of a health care "need" to drive up costs and enrich themselves. "The degree of industry capture in the way health care policy actually happens in this country is beyond anyone's imagination," he said. The health care industry spends half a billion annually on lobbying to maintain the status quo. The nation's poorly run hospitals are able to operate at 65 percent capacity only because Medicare keeps them afloat.

"Medicare is a bank without security guards," Goldhill said, and this year taxpayers will have to subsidize the program to the tune of $320 billion.

The Soho Forum, which is run by the Reason Foundation, has a two-fold mission: to provide an arena for intellectual adversaries to talk in paragraphs (as opposed to 140 characters), and "to enhance social and professional ties within New York City's libertarian community." It's held at the Subculture Theater at 45 Bleecker Street in Manhattan, and after the debate wraps there's always free food, a cash bar, and everyone's encouraged to hang out and chat. Doors open at 5:45, and the event convenes at 6:30—at which point the party has already begun.

Next up: Yale Professor of Law Peter Schuck vs. New York Civil Rights Coalition President Michael Meyers on abolishing affirmative action. That will be on Monday October 16. Get tickets here. And subscribe to the Reason Podcast or Reason TV's YouTube Channel to catch audio and video of all the Soho Forum debates.

Shot and edited by Martin Kim at Storysmith Productions, http://storysmith.co.

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
soho forum
,
medicare
,
health care
,
affordable care act
,
obamacare
,
paul starr
,
david goldhill
    Thumbnail for Stossel: 100 years of Communist Disaster5:16
    Stossel: 100 years of Communist Disaster
    ReasonVids
    1027 views
    Thumbnail for How Jay Leno Changed the Politics of Late Night8:48
    How Jay Leno Changed the Politics of Late Night
    ReasonVids
    1154 views
    Thumbnail for ‘Significant’: Musk’s assassination claim | The Daily Telegraph0:55
    ‘Significant’: Musk’s assassination claim | The Daily Telegraph
    invidious
    354 views
    Thumbnail for become a gigachad assembly programmer in only 10 minutes (yes YOU! right now) | Low Level Learning9:48
    become a gigachad assembly programmer in only 10 minutes (yes YOU! right now) | Low Level Learning
    invidious
    512 views
    Thumbnail for Is Colorado Pot Overtaxed and Over-Regulated Already?8:22
    Is Colorado Pot Overtaxed and Over-Regulated Already?
    ReasonVids
    1117 views
    Thumbnail for Program in C | Kaslai0:52
    Program in C | Kaslai
    invidious
    118 views
    Thumbnail for Libertarianism From A to Z With Jeffrey Miron9:32
    Libertarianism From A to Z With Jeffrey Miron
    ReasonVids
    2041 views
    Thumbnail for Brian Doherty on The Forgotten History of the Antiwar Right7:37
    Brian Doherty on The Forgotten History of the Antiwar Right
    ReasonVids
    1015 views
    Thumbnail for What Should Have Happened at the Ketanji Brown Jackson Hearings6:26
    What Should Have Happened at the Ketanji Brown Jackson Hearings
    ReasonVids
    1005 views
    Thumbnail for The War on Fast Food: Can a D.C. Suburb Fight Fat with Zoning?2:30
    The War on Fast Food: Can a D.C. Suburb Fight Fat with Zoning?
    ReasonVids
    973 views
    Thumbnail for Should Businesses Focus Solely on Profits? John Mackey vs. Yaron Brook1:26:36
    Should Businesses Focus Solely on Profits? John Mackey vs. Yaron Brook
    ReasonVids
    789 views
    Thumbnail for Just start your own bank0:20
    Just start your own bank
    AOUisgay
    573 views
    Thumbnail for Stossel: The Philly Soda Tax Scam4:52
    Stossel: The Philly Soda Tax Scam
    ReasonVids
    982 views
    Thumbnail for The Case Against Jamie Oliver: Why the Naked Chef Should Take His "Food Revolution" Back Home6:53
    The Case Against Jamie Oliver: Why the Naked Chef Should Take His "Food Revolution" Back Home
    ReasonVids
    944 views
    Thumbnail for Foids now trying to divorce rape the man they're still married to 0:38
    Foids now trying to divorce rape the man they're still married to
    bestofupgoat
    672 views
    Thumbnail for [Trực tiếp] Toàn cảnh quốc tế: Ông Trump trỗi dậy “rút gân rồng” của Trung Quốc? | Tiền Phong TV2:18:16
    [Trực tiếp] Toàn cảnh quốc tế: Ông Trump trỗi dậy “rút gân rồng” của Trung Quốc? | Tiền Phong TV
    invidious
    227 views
    Thumbnail for Why The Su-47 Never Took Flight | Dwaynes Aviation0:22
    Why The Su-47 Never Took Flight | Dwaynes Aviation
    invidious
    161 views
    Thumbnail for Are Education Savings Accounts the Future of School Choice?5:26
    Are Education Savings Accounts the Future of School Choice?
    ReasonVids
    1071 views
    Thumbnail for Joe Biden Wants To Reform the Criminal Justice System He Helped Create7:50
    Joe Biden Wants To Reform the Criminal Justice System He Helped Create
    ReasonVids
    886 views
    Thumbnail for The Last Rifleman | YouTube Movies1:39:48
    The Last Rifleman | YouTube Movies
    invidious
    152 views
    Thumbnail for Does Fractional Reserve Banking Endanger the Economy? A Debate1:24:53
    Does Fractional Reserve Banking Endanger the Economy? A Debate
    ReasonVids
    820 views
    Thumbnail for "The Slants:" A Band Name Too Racist to Trademark!8:03
    "The Slants:" A Band Name Too Racist to Trademark!
    ReasonVids
    1086 views
    Thumbnail for Bracing for ObamaCare: Shirley Svorny on the Economics of Healthcare Regulation4:55
    Bracing for ObamaCare: Shirley Svorny on the Economics of Healthcare Regulation
    ReasonVids
    883 views
    Thumbnail for Media Manipulation and Unconventional Marketing: Author Ryan Holiday on "Trust Me I'm Lying"7:52
    Media Manipulation and Unconventional Marketing: Author Ryan Holiday on "Trust Me I'm Lying"
    ReasonVids
    931 views
    Thumbnail for How Detectives Caught the Golden State Killer—and Unleashed a Catastrophe for Civil Liberties35:03
    How Detectives Caught the Golden State Killer—and Unleashed a Catastrophe for Civil Liberties
    ReasonVids
    1036 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
soho forum
,
medicare
,
health care
,
affordable care act
,
obamacare
,
paul starr
,
david goldhill
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle