Noah Valdez wins Fulton Medal!

Noah Valdez ’21, a philosophy major from Nashua, New Hampshire, won the Fulton Medal at the 126th annual Fulton Prize Debate held on April 19th in Gasson 305.

The topic for the debate was “Resolved: That the United States should establish a system of single-payer health insurance.”

Serving as the judges were Joseph Bowden, ‘05 (IPC Global Solutions &Fulton Debate alumn), Myles Casey, ’17 (BC graduate student in philosophy & Fulton Debate alumn) and Rita Rosenthal (Communication Department professor of public speaking and persuasion).

Debating on the affirmative with Noah Valdez was Conner Coles,’20, a political science major from Oklahoma, who was the second affirmative speaker. Debating on the negative was Nicholas Wong,’21, a chemistry major from California and Ben Dewhurst’21, a history major from the District of Columbia.

The affirmative side advocated a single-payer plan endorsed by the Physicians for a National Health Program, which would provide everyone with a comprehensive health insurance plan financed by progressive taxes and administrative cost savings obtained by eliminating private insurance companies.

Adoption of single-payer health insurance, the affirmative side argued, was beneficial for two major reasons. First, it claimed providing universal coverage was a moral imperative to provide health insurance to millions of poor people who currently lack coverage. Second, it argued that single payer was necessary to reduce escalating health care costs. Single payer, it claimed, would reduce costs by implementing streamlined administration, bulk purchasing and global budgeting.

In response, the negative side argued that adoption of single-payer would harm both the economy and the health care system. It would wreck the economy because paying for expanded and unlimited health care would require a massive tax increase. Moreover, the negative side pointed out that government-run health care systems in Canada and the United Kingdom have inferior health care characterized by long-wait times for care and a lack of medical innovation.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges voted for the affirmative side and named Noah Valdez (the first affirmative speaker) as the top speaker and the recipient of the gold Fulton Medal. Ben Dewhusrt (the second negative speaker) won second place speaker honors and received the silver Gargan Medal.

As the Fulton Medal winner, Noah Valdez will also have his name painted on the great wall in Gasson 305.