1. Read the following assertions made by Mr. Sowell. For each, state whether you agree or disagree and explain your answers.

• We are repeatedly being told that we need to have a government-controlled medical care system, because other countries have it-- as if our policies on something as serious as medical care should be based on the principle of monkey see, monkey do. By all means look at other countries, but not just to see what to imitate. See how it actually turns out. (para. 3-4)
  
• Neither in Britain, Canada, nor in other countries with government-run medical care systems can people get to see doctors, especially surgeons, in as short a time as in the United States. It is not uncommon for patients in those countries to have to wait for months before getting operations that Americans get within weeks, or even days, after being diagnosed with a condition that requires surgery.
  
• You can always "bring down the cost of medical care" by having a lower level of quality or availability. (para. 7-8)
  
• you may never learn [about problems with government run health care in other countries] by following most of the American mainstream media. It is not that they don't make comparisons between medical care in different countries. But they tend to feature news that will promote government-controlled care. (para. 9)
  
• One of the statistics [the media] spin endlessly is that life expectancy in some countries with government-controlled medical care is higher than in the United States. What they don't tell you is that, in some of these countries, all the infants that die are not included in infant mortality statistics, as they are in the United States. (para. 10)
  
• If those who make international comparisons were serious ... they would compare the things that medical science can have a great effect on-- cancer survival rates, for example. Americans have some of the highest cancer survival rates in the world, and for some particular cancers, the highest. (para. 14)
  
• When you can get to see a doctor faster, and get treatments underway without waiting for months, while the cancer grows and spreads, you have a better chance of surviving. That, too, is not rocket science. But it is also something that you are not likely to see featured in most of the media, where people are promoting their own pet notions and agendas, instead of giving you the facts on which you can make up your own mind. (para. 15)

2. What is the main point of Mr. Sowell's commentary?
b) Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer.