If you have been sitting under a rock for the later half of the summer without some political issue to ponder, no worries; nationalized health care is going to drag you out. Not only is nationalized health care a perceived partisan issue, it has also sparked television ads that are pushing the American public to one side or the other. However, before you make up your mind about the merits of the bill, some misconceptions need to be remedied. Proponents of nationalized health care support the bill using many misleading arguments which include that it will be cheaper, will provide more extensive individual coverage, and that Republicans are trying to stop you from obtaining health care. All three of these arguments are deceptively misleading—two are even half-truths.

As for cost, the first half-truth: it will be cheaper for some, but not for all, of the American public. Under the new plan, those who don’t already have health care coverage will receive it on the taxpayers’ dime, rather than their own. So it will be cheaper for them, but what about the American taxpayers who get to pay for the free lunch? The answer: higher taxes. If health care is driving us bankrupt now, nationalized health care will bankrupt us and isn’t cheaper. You do the math: look at how much is taken out of your paycheck for Medicaid and start doubling it, tripling it, and quadrupling it and see how much you will be paying under nationalized health care.

As for better coverage, I have no idea how this argument is supported, since from my view we will receive less coverage and lower quality care. If everyone in America received health care, that would mean that many more people using doctors and other health care professionals. We already have a shortage of health care professionals and with nationalized health care, we will have up to double the number of people demanding our limited health care resources. Then, in order to fairly divide our limited health care resources rationing will have to happen; there are only so many doctors and nurses to go around.

Finally, for the second half- truth, Republicans are not the ones responsible for blocking health care reform; it is actually the Democratic Party who is going to kill this bill. Notice that Republicans are vastly outnumbered in the House and don’t even have a filibuster in the Senate. With such a sizeable majority, the Democratic Party should have been able to pass the health care bill already—unless of course some Democrats don’t want it passed. Thus, it is the Democrats who are the ones truly killing health care, not the Republicans.

I will admit that I pay way too much for the health care that I have used twice in the last year, but nationalizing health care is not the answer. If you are interested in debating health care, the College Republicans are hosting a health care forum on October 9 at 8 pm in Mother’s and will have copies of the health care bill to resolve any content arguments of the bill. See you there.