Students debate health care system

The health care debate continues at Marshall University.

At approximately the same time President Barack Obama delivered a critical television address to the nation on the subject of health care, two of Marshall's political student groups gathered on the second level of the Memorial Student Center to voice their views on the future of the health care system in the U.S.

Two very different perspectives were discussed last night by members of the Young Democrats and the Marshall Libertarians in a civilized, but still heated debate. The College Republicans were invited to the forum but did not show.

Those present at the meeting included an audience of close to 30, as well as members from both groups, including Jay Roudebush, vice president of Young Democrats, and Josh Parsons, treasurer of Marshall Libertarians.

"I believe that the root of all democracy is the voice of the people," Roudebush said. "We must hear the voice of the people, and they are showing that they have a stake in the way the government runs health care."

The forum consisted of a formal discussion between both groups on topics that involved the philosophy, ideas, and solutions for socialized medicine.

The Democrat perspective was that the current system is broken and requires direct government intervention in an effort to provide care to as many as 40 million individuals who lack health insurance.

The Libertarian perspective was that government is not capable of managing a system that offers quality care and is also cost effective.

Each section of the meeting consisted of 20 to 30 minutes of discussion. However, with numerous questions from the crowd, the two-hour time frame was not enough to cover all topics of debate.

"The thing that I enjoyed was the crowd involvement," Parsons said. "I was kind of shocked with the audience during the question and answer section. It makes it hard to stay on time."

Both sides look forward to further discussion and encourage more participation from students.

"If it was up to me, we would have meetings like these every week because we enjoy it so much," Parsons said.

"It really brings the government home to the people," Roudebush said. "I would encourage anybody to attend these forums."

The members participating in the discussion concluded that the topic of health care should be discussed further at either another setting or on The Sowards-Roudebush Report on WMUL.

There is another forum scheduled in October for Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians.

Carlton Apgar can be contacted at apgar5@marshall.edu.