[MD] NHS? No thanks

[Ben Golden]

It seems that a huge problem with the current health care policy debate is 
an over-reliance on anecdotal evidence.  From what I see, many advocates of 
both positions run around finding stories of the other side screwing up, 
then write articles and books about these isolated incidents.  I'd say that 
in order to move the discussion to a higher level, there needs to be some 
process that aggregates and measures all these individual data points.  It's 
pretty heavy stuff, hard to access for non-experts (myself included), but 
much more insightful than the whole "but my cousin Larry couldn't get a bed" 
back and forth.

In MOQ terms, there's a battle taking place between two or more intellectual 
positions.  Meanwhile, social institutions--political parties, health care 
companies, etc.--are influencing the debate, often using non-intellectual 
methods.  I have trouble imagining this expose actually changing someone's 
mind on the issue of health care policy, though I suppose it's possible.  
What I see as more likely is that it strengthens the convictions of someone 
already opposed to a more socialized health care system while also 
strengthening convictions of those on the other side, who just respond 
swiftly with something like "Yes, this is why we need more health care 
funding."  So the effect of the article is a strengthening of social 
institutions--loyalty to a political ideology--much more than an 
intellectual reexamination of ideas.

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