Intelligence Squared US

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2008

UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE SHOULD BE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY

About This Debate

Debate description coming soon.

The Panel

For The Motion

  • Art Kellermann
    Art Kellermann
    FOR THE MOTION
    Art Kellermann
    is professor of emergency medicine and associate dean for health policy at Emory University. He works clinically in the ER of Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s only public hospital and Level I trauma center. A member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, Kellermann co-chaired the IOM’s Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, which issued six comprehensive reports on this topic between 2001 and 2004.
  • Paul Krugman
    Paul Krugman
    FOR THE MOTION
    Paul Krugman
    is professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times. Krugman is the author or editor of 20 books and more than 200 papers in professional journals and edited volumes, many of them on international trade and finance. He is a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association, an award given every two years to the top economist under the age of 40, and was named “the most important political columnist in America” by the Washington Monthly.
  • Michael Rachlis
    Michael Rachlis
    FOR THE MOTION
    Michael Rachlis
    is a physician and health policy analyst. He has consulted to all ten Canadian provinces, the federal government, and two Royal Commissions. He has also been invited to address two US Congressional committees. He is an associate professor with the University of Toronto Department of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health. Rachlis is the author of three national bestsellers on the Canadian health care system.

Against The Motion

  • Michael F. Cannon
    Michael F. Cannon
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    Michael F. Cannon
    is the Cato Institute's director of health policy studies. Previously, he served as a domestic policy analyst for the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee, advising Senate leadership on health care. His articles have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law, and Ethics, and Forum for Health Economics & Policy. Cannon is co-author of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.
  • Sally C. Pipes
    Sally C. Pipes
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    Sally C. Pipes
    is president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Research Institute, a California-based think tank founded in 1979. An expert in the Canadian and American health systems, Pipes writes, speaks, debates and gives invited testimony on key health care issues facing America. She is the author of Miracle Cure: How to Solve America’s Health Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn’t the Answer, in addition to numerous op-eds, TV, and radio appearances.
  • John Stossel
    John Stossel
    AGAINST THE MOTION
    John Stossel
    is an ABC News correspondent, co-anchor of 20/20 and author of The John Stossel Specials. His in-depth reports for 20/20 are on subjects ranging from government waste to parenting, and his "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, from pop culture controversies to censorship and government regulations. He has written two bestsellers: Give Me a Break and Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Why Everything You Know Is Wrong.

Moderator

John Donvan is a correspondent for ABC News Nightline. He has served as ABC White House Correspondent, along with postings in Moscow, London, Jerusalem and Amman.

Poll Results

Pre-Debate Poll Results
49% For | 24% Against | 27%

Post Debate Poll Results
58% For | 34% Against | 8%

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