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This WATCHDOG INFORMATION PORTAL is designed to provide links to information the Mainstream Media is currently BLACKING OUT, DISTORTING, or IGNORING. It is for us "Common Citizens" of the United States who simply want to become a "Well-Informed Electorate."
WIP06 .
Our Health
and the Nation's Health
I have reorganized WIP06 -the Watchdog Information Portal on "Our Health and the Nation's Health" to begin with a topic that I believe is one of the more important issues confronting the American People --
Is Health Care a Right or a Commodity?Although I personally believe Health Care is a right, I think the issue is so important to the future of our country that it must be fully discussed.
The topic of
gun violence as a national health care issue is also of great importance to the American people. We need to take gun violence out of the 2nd Amendment arena, the pro-gun and the anti-gun arena, and the concealed weapons arena and look at it as an issue of public health. How are gun deaths and gun injuries in the United States statistically distributed? Is there such a thing as a gun violence epidemic in some parts of our society? These are some of the questions we, as a nation, must have answers.
Closely related to the issue of Health Care as a Right or a Commodity is the issue of the Costs of Health Care. In Silicon Valley, which is actually the county of Santa Clara in California, the taxpayers in the county support the costs of the Valley Medical Center (VMC). Many of the people treated at the VMC lack medical insurance, so in fact the taxpayers are paying for their medical care. This is true of taxpayers across the country. How much, in taxes, do the American people pay for the medical care of the uninsured. Is it more, or less than we would pay for a national health care system covering all citizens and residents of the United States?
Then we have the questions relating to the people who have health insurance. How much money is paid to the health insurance companies in premiums each year? How much of this money goes to medical care and how much to administrative costs and profits?
What are we getting for the money paid to Health Maintenance Organizations?
I need links to web sites or to newspaper or magazine articles on all of these subjects, and in addition, links to those stories which cover the cost of prescription drugs in the United States.
Remember I am looking for material which is (1) fair and objective (covers both sides of an issue); (2) takes one side or the issue, or (3) takes the other side.
Links
A. Is Health Care a Right or a Commodity?
1. Fair and Objective Articles Covering Both Sides of the Issue
Place-holder for one or more articles.
2. Articles Favoring Health Care as a Right
Place-holder for one or more articles.
3. Articles Favoring Health Care as a Commodity
Place-holder for one or more articles.
B. Gun Violence as a National Health Care Issue
1. Anti-Gun Violence
a. Collecting Statistics on Gun Violence
(This is a recent article from the San Jose Mercury News)
b. On Recent legislation:
http://www.gunfree.org/csgv/actalert.html
c. On Organizations Trying to Stop Handgun Violence:
http://www.gunfree.org/csgv/cando.htm
http://www.handguncontrol.org/
(Handgun Control, Inc.)
( Violence Policy Center)
d. On the Tracing of Guns used in Crimes:
Active link to Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-04/12/046r-041299-idx.html
(Putting a human face on a gun death)
http://www.atf.treas.gov/welcome.htm
(Note: this is a Report from the Bureau of Achohol, Tobacco, and Firearms [BATF] )
e. On the Tracing of Guns used in Youth Crimes
http://www.atf.treas.gov/core/firearms/ycgii/ycgii.htm
(Note: this is a Report from the BATF )
f. Gun Shows (You can download a PDF file on Brady permits and Gun Shows by linking to d. above. A menu will appear with the Guns Shows PDF in it.
2. Pro-Gun Violence
Place-holder for one or more articles.
C. The Costs of Health Care
1. The Uninsured in the United States
a. Farmers
Active link to Washington Post AP Story:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990408/V000384-040899-idx.html
If the active link doesn't work, try this:
b. Hispanics and other minorities
Active link to New York Times story
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/national/hispanics-uninsured.html
If the active link doesn't work, try this:
c. Welfare recipients going to Workfare
Active link to New York Times Story
http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/041299workfare-healthcare.html
If the active link doesn't work, try this:
2. The Insured in the United States
Place-holder for one or more articles.
D. Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
1. Fair and Objective
(A San Jose Mercury News article on the political climate in California after the election of Gray Davis as governor.)
2. Anti-HMO
a. The defeat of the "Patients Bill of Rights" in the Senate, October 1998.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/healthcare/stories/patients101098.htm
b. A news article reporting a backlash to congressional inaction, February 1999.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/healthcare/healthcare.htm
c. A GAO report on the brochures describing Medicare benefits from 16 HMOs found all of the HMOs putting out false or misleading information. The federal government routinely approves such documents, April 13, 1999.
The active link to a New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/hmos-medicare.html
If the active link does not work, here is a link to a textual file:
3. Pro-HMO
Place-holder for one or more articles.
C. The Cost of Prescription Drugs
1. Fair and Objective
Place-holder for one or more articles.
2. Anti-Drug Industry and the Cost of Drugs
Place-holder for one or more articles.
3. Pro- Drug Industry and the Cost of Drugs
Place-holder for one or more articles.
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