Final Project Essay One Knh

Chris Raines English 111 Mr. Weinkam October 22, 2009 Rhetorical Analysis – Canadian Health Care: Socialized Insurance, Not Socialized Medicine „“Amid the debate about reforming health care in the United States, it‟s tough to turn on your television these days without hearing a political ad condemning the Canadian health care system,‟ NPR reports. While those ads are „provocative‟, NPR asks whether they accurately portray Canadian health care.” Kaiser Health News‟ article asks whether the Canadian health care system is correctly represented by the NPR‟s (National Public Radio, a media organization which provides news and public affairs programs) description in the quote above.

They

immediately take the defensive and classify the Canadian health care system as not being socialized, but instead, having socialized insurance. This is where the article begins to be confusing, which is seemingly a reoccurring theme. The article states a point and later contradicts that point, or simple logic contradicts that point. Kaiser Health News is a nonprofit group of writers, journalists and political specialists based in Menlo Park, California that pride themselves in providing health news (it is important to realize that California is one of the most democratic states in the United States of America). KHN focuses their articles mainly on improvements in the United States health care system. It is a collaborative effort between all of KHN‟s staff to produce articles, all of which are accredited to the Kaiser Family Foundation (a foundation that is involved in their own research and This was by far my worst essay out of the three. My flow was continuously blocked by my structure which took away from my clarity and organization. Yet my grade doesn‟t reflect this (I‟m not complaining), this was an epic fail at a rhetorical analysis. I am disappointed in how this essay came out… is it the worst essay I‟ve ever written… probably not, I‟m sure I wrote a stinker in middle school on „how the color of my crayon is blue‟. But aside from any recent writing, this was a disappointment.

Comment [C1]: I don‟t know what I was thinking when I put this in my essay. This is boarder line irrelevant. The paper would have been fine without it, I would even go as far as to say it changes the focus of the paper from the start, which confuses the reader. Rookie mistake…

communications, working with other media companies as well). By looking at some of their other articles you can tell that they have a collective stance against the Canadian health care system, but are pro socialized medicine and have reoccurring liberal views. A distinction has been formed between the socialized health care system which exists in Canada, and the privatized health care system which exists in the United States (these are often compared to as the two extremities in health care). Today this is a controversial issue in America, which explains why an American based website would take a stance on this issue and also explains why a liberal publication would promote socialized medicine. “U.S. critics of Canadian health care like to call it socialized medicine, but it‟s more like socialized insurance – meaning the risk is pooled together. And while the individual provinces and territories set their overall health budgets and administer the health plans, the delivery of medical care is private. Doctors run their own businesses and then bill the government.” This is KHN‟s claim which they are attempting to argue throughout the paper; however this is an equivocation because they are defining socialized medicine in a way to prove their claim. Doctors are running their own business and then billing the government. Yes this sounds fine if the government was paying for the medicine, but they‟re not. The government imposes tax brackets on its citizens based on their income (whether or not they are using these medical services) to pay for these bills. Since people are paying for a service whether or not they use it, it is still socialized health care, because health care and insurance are essentially one in the same. Therefore their claim also comes across as being an example of begging the question, because they are defining their argument in a way that they can easily argue. KHN is attempting to This was by far my worst essay out of the three. My flow was continuously blocked by my structure which took away from my clarity and organization. Yet my grade doesn‟t reflect this (I‟m not complaining), this was an epic fail at a rhetorical analysis. I am disappointed in how this essay came out… is it the worst essay I‟ve ever written… probably not, I‟m sure I wrote a stinker in middle school on „how the color of my crayon is blue‟. But aside from any recent writing, this was a disappointment.

Comment [C2]: This paragraph focuses on the Ethos/Kairos.

change the definition of the Canadian health care system in order to make the system appear more appealing; however they drastically fail in their arguments.

Comment [C3]: Straw Man Fallacy

“Canada has a universal health care system that‟s paid for through income taxes and sales tax. All Canadians are covered, and they can see any doctor they want anywhere in the country with no copays or deductibles.” This is a straight forward, basic description of the Canadian

Comment [C4]: This a prime example of how my structure with quotes took away from the clarity of my essay….

health care system, it tells the audience how the health care system is funded and it also gives the audience the impression that this system has a degree of leniency in that all of Canada is covered and are able to see any doctor in the country. The article goes on to say that “some services, such as dental care and outpatient prescription drugs, are paid out-of-pocket or through private insurance.” showing that the Canadian health care system does not cover all medical services. In this case dental care and outpatient prescription drugs are not necessarily always covered. KHN is very vague in their description of the Health Care system, it neglects to mention that the Canadian tax is very high, and even more so on those citizens with higher incomes. Also in these quotes they use the terms „health care‟ and „insurance‟ interchangeably, which completely undermines their argument of socialized insurance instead of socialized health care. The discussion of Health Care is a controversial topic in today‟s society; it flares emotions, and sparks debates when it is mentioned. Through recalling past events, Kaiser Health news is able to establish an emotional argument to persuade their audiences. “When federal spending on Canadian health care declined during a recession in the 1990‟s, lines for non- urgent procedures – and some urgent ones – grew. A few years later, Canada‟s Supreme Court found that some patients had in fact died as a result of waiting for medical services. Stories of the This was by far my worst essay out of the three. My flow was continuously blocked by my structure which took away from my clarity and organization. Yet my grade doesn‟t reflect this (I‟m not complaining), this was an epic fail at a rhetorical analysis. I am disappointed in how this essay came out… is it the worst essay I‟ve ever written… probably not, I‟m sure I wrote a stinker in middle school on „how the color of my crayon is blue‟. But aside from any recent writing, this was a disappointment.

Comment [C5]: This paragraph should be clearer… Its like a jumbled thought and needs to be reworked. Two separate paragraphs perhaps or at least an argument to tie them together.

deaths and of residents traveling to the U.S. for medical care dominated Canadian news coverage.” This example of pathos from the article ignites an emotional appeal for the audience; because when examples of death due to negligence are used, they automatically catch interest and are great tools in an argument. In this case it shows that the demand for medical procedures in a socialized health care system is the cause of a few deaths to its patients. In a case where the writer was trying to persuade the reader against socialized health care, this would be a great argument to use; however this article is not against socialized health care which makes this a horrible argument.

By this point the audience has to question the writer, because the

contradictions begin to take away from the articles voice and the overall effect of the argument.

Comment [C6]: This paragraph talks about the pathos used in the article

“It‟s not something that everybody is completely satisfied with or complacent about [referring to the health care system]. There are concerns about waiting and that sort of thing. But… the vast majority thinks the system‟s pretty good.‟ At the same time, he says, about half of Canadians say they would like the option to buy a private health insurance plan. Currently, that‟s not allowed” this quotation by Keith Neuman, a member of the Canadian polling group Environics is somewhat of a non sequitur because it states that the system is pretty good but a private health insurance plan would be preferred over the current plan. Also before saying that the majority find the system to be pretty good, he says that the system is not something that people are satisfied with, and people have concerns with it… no you did not read this wrong, the argument just doesn‟t make sense. I believe what the writer meant to say was „by no means is the system perfect, it needs work, but for the most part the people seem somewhat complacent

This was by far my worst essay out of the three. My flow was continuously blocked by my structure which took away from my clarity and organization. Yet my grade doesn‟t reflect this (I‟m not complaining), this was an epic fail at a rhetorical analysis. I am disappointed in how this essay came out… is it the worst essay I‟ve ever written… probably not, I‟m sure I wrote a stinker in middle school on „how the color of my crayon is blue‟. But aside from any recent writing, this was a disappointment.

Comment [C7]: I was always taught that if you are going to use a quote in a paragraph, you should start the paragraph off with the quote and then later explain it. I mean the form could work, but it takes away from the flow of the essay, it almost makes it choppy. It would be easier to talk about a point and use the quote to support my claim for that paragraph.

towards it‟, or something along that premise. Again, the contradictions continue, and the article has lost any repute that it may have had left. Through the article KHN raises a unique and interesting idea that Canadian health insurance is socialized instead of the Canadian health care system, attempting to use examples of Logos and Pathos to portray this claim to the audience. Throughout the article, however, KHN seems to contradict themselves with their facts and quotes, and proves the exact opposite of their claim. Not only does it portray the Canadian health care system in a bad way, but it also fails to confirm its idea that the Canada has socialized insurance instead of a socialized health care system. It is surprising for a reputable media source, such as KHN, to provide such a poor argument, but in this article they are more successful in producing conflicting facts about the Canadian health care system than actually arguing their claim. Better luck next time KHN!

This was by far my worst essay out of the three. My flow was continuously blocked by my structure which took away from my clarity and organization. Yet my grade doesn‟t reflect this (I‟m not complaining), this was an epic fail at a rhetorical analysis. I am disappointed in how this essay came out… is it the worst essay I‟ve ever written… probably not, I‟m sure I wrote a stinker in middle school on „how the color of my crayon is blue‟. But aside from any recent writing, this was a disappointment.

Comment [C8]: See sometimes a simple ending is a good ending =P