Shaquita Practice Essay Evaluation 3pg
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Wilson 1
Shaquita Wilson
PHIL 102: Logic
Professor Jonathan Gainor
April 4, 2022
Essay Evaluation: Canada’s Health
In Stan Alekna’s article “Canada’s Health Care Suffers By Comparison,” he points his
focus on assessing the quality of healthcare services in Canada. Therefore, in his thesis, he
implies that Canadian people tend to pay more for healthcare than citizens in other countries,
even though the healthcare system continues to worsen. He thus concludes that a socialist
healthcare system did not bear fruit in Canada and so it would not work either in the United
States.
To prove this thesis, Alekna uses various examples. Nonetheless, through these examples,
he commits various fallacies, applies persuasive rhetorical devices and psychological ploys,
which limit the strength of the message he is sending. In his passage, Alekna uses the fallacy of
appeal to authority. He writes, “
The Institute's list of participants has grown to 350 experts in
22 countries, six of whom have been awarded Nobel Prizes” (Alekna). From this statement, he
insinuates that the study done by Fraser Institute is reliable and legitimate since some of the
participants are Nobel Prize winners.
When evaluating the study cited by Alekna, it seems problematic. He states that the
title of the report is "How Good Is Canadian Health Care? 2008." According to the article, the
“report compares the quality of health care of Canada with the 28 industrialized countries in
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the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) who also have
socialized medicine.” Since the study compares nations that have only implemented socialized
medicine, there is no proper comparison since the United States does not apply this type of
healthcare system. Alekna also utilizes the fallacies of inconsistency and questionable use of
statistics. For instance, he writes, “Canada ranks 14th in access to MRI's and 19th in access to
CT scanners among OECD countries. (On a per capita basis, the U.S. has eight times more
MRI units; seven times more radiation units; six times more lithotripsy units and three times
more open-heart units than Canada.).” Essentially, these statistics cannot be compared or
applicable to the United States because the U.S did not take part in the study. Thus, one would
wonder where these statistics were sourced from.
By claiming that those who support socialized medicine “resort to outlandish and false
statistics to support their cause,” Alekna commits the straw man fallacy where he makes the
opposition’s argument seem weaker. He further claims that, “the average profit margin of the
Top 10 U.S. health insurers was 5 percent in 2007.” This statement carries both the fallacy of
suppressed evidence and that of questionable statistics. This is because he fails to mention that
despite 5% seeming small, it is a huge impact since the healthcare is a multi-billion dollar
industry and this makes the number quite significant contrary to what people would presume.
Other fallacies utilized by the author are appeal to fear and slippery slope. Alekna
writes, “The recent economic meltdown demonstrates how well government manages its
responsibilities. Would you honestly want to see those who made such a disaster of regulating,
overseeing and inspecting banking, finance, investment houses, mortgages, education, the
economy, energy, and the environment, in complete charge of the health care delivery system
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of the United States?” With these statements, he suggests that if the government oversaw the
healthcare sector, the outcome would be a ‘disaster.’
In the concluding paragraph, Alekna writes, “
We need to take on the special interest
groups and address the well-known issues that account for 30 to 40 percent of health care
costs so that health care and health insurance will be more affordable to more people.” From
my point of view, it is as if he is begging the question as earlier in the article, he pins the
blame of expensive healthcare on the socialist system, but in this statement, he implies that
30% to 40% of people with “well-known issues” are to blame is also a euphemism. If the
people that need health insurance were to be removed from the equation, the entire idea of
having affordable healthcare would be defeated since only people with medical problems use
these insurances. This makes his argument cyclical since people can become sick any time,
like during the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that the 30-40% demographic would change.
This makes the statement illogical and inappropriately scapegoats the special interests of
people with health issues.
Alekna also claims that “Socialism has not worked to the long-term benefit and
general welfare of the people, anywhere it has been tried.” However, there is not a single
premise to support this claim since there is no support evidence to show that socialism did not
work in the long-run. As such, he commits the fallacy of suppressed evidence and slanting
when trying to prove his inadequately assessed claims.
Overall, after an assessment of Alekna’s opinion against socialized healthcare, I would
disagree with him. First, he falls to provide sufficient and reliable evidence and statistics to
support his points. Second, he utilizes numerous fallacies, persuasive language devices and
psychological ploys, eventually weakening his arguments. The entire article could be
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classified as one that commits the fallacy of questionable analogy, as the author attempts to
compare the Canadian socialized healthcare system to that of America, which is non-
universal. The problem with statistics is that the author excludes the U.S and includes 28 other
nations that have a socialized healthcare structure. Therefore, there is no logic to the
comparison of Canada and the United States.
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Work Cited
Alekna, Stan. “Canada's Health Care Suffers By Comparison.” The Bulletin. 2009.