With the presidential primaries two months away, Shippensburg University students gathered in Orndorff Theatre to discuss the nature of healthcare in the U.S. in a small open forum on Nov. 30.
SU student Nathaniel LaPole facilitated discussion topics with other students. The event was originally planned to be a debate between SU College Republicans and liberal-leaning students, but several debaters backed out because of illness. In place of the debate, students talked openly about various healthcare-related topics, such as prescription drug prices and public versus private healthcare polices.
"This is good for everyone to learn about different opinions and for us, as citizens to improve the healthcare system," LaPole said to the students. The first question he posed was whether access to healthcare is a right or privilege.
LaPole said he thought it is a privilege and it should largely be kept privatized. Justin Lee, a non-traditional student at SU, opposed LaPole's ideology, and said it should be a right to all citizens. The conversation quickly went into the pros and cons of private and state-owned healthcare, using the effectives of the Department of the Veteran's Affairs (VA) as a case study.
SU sophomore Tyler Law said the efficiency of the VA is common problem for veterans, but using Medicare as an alternative system might prevent people from getting bogged down in bureaucracy.
Finding an efficient healthcare system was only the beginning the group's discussion. The focus soon turned to prescription drug prices and whether the government should demand companies lower the prices to consumers.
"If there's less money in medicine, there's less innovation," LaPole said, pointing out the argument that drug companies often use to justify high prices, but also offering a counter point. "What good is medicine if nobody can afford it."
The group's discussion quickly boiled down to examining the fundamental ideological differences of American politics. Law, Lee and LaPole spearheaded conversational points about political philosophies and creating jobs in the U.S.
"You're the president of everyone," LaPole said, putting their discussion in a hypothetical perspective, "not just the people you to want to be president of."
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