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Letters to the Editor
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Sickness Unto Death Part VIII: No One Dies From the Lack of Health Care? ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 07/05/2017 09:33 AM
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Murphys, CA...On May 7, 2017, Congressman Raul Labrador (R-ID) spoke at a town hall meeting with his constituents. He exemplifies the chutzpah of many in Congress: "No one dies because they don't have access to health care". Then there is the case of Chris Collins (R-NY). Just after the House of Representatives voted to "repeal" Obamacare and potentially cause tens of millions of Americans to lose their healthcare coverage, Collins was interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Collins, who voted to "repeal", acknowledged he never read the bill upon which he voted. It brings to mind Aldous Huxley's dictum, "Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." (1926).
This is a series of eight articles on a single theme to be released once a week. Copyright license granted under  |
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An Open Letter To Calaveras County Board of Supervisors ~ David Tunno |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 06/28/2017 09:56 PM
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Valley Springs, CA...You are faced with a decision that you, and the County, has been fretting over for more than a year. A decision, at least for elected leaders, is quite simple. You took oaths to uphold federal law. Marijuana, and everything on the Calaveras County list having to do with marijuana, including money laundering, is against federal law.
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Sickness Unto Death Part VII: Health Care -- Right or Responsibility? ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 06/26/2017 05:54 PM
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Murphys, CA...The United States Declaration of Independence declares "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Without good health, where is the possibility for the pursuit of happiness? As the Declaration's primary author, Thomas Jefferson, would later write, "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." (Jefferson 1809).
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Sickness Unto Death Part VI: Free Market Health Care that Isn't Free ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 06/18/2017 04:19 PM
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Murphys, CA...If you draw a graph of the American health care system, it looks like a home-stitched quilt made by someone that cannot see. Nothing fits together -- not the colors, the design, or the function. There are a lot of reasons for this picture, but how we fund health care is the single biggest problem.
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Sickness Unto Death Part V: Why Rural America is So Sick ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 06/10/2017 10:01 AM
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Murphys, CA...The health of rural Americans is worse than those who live in cities, in part because rural health care systems are collapsing. This is a problem that has been long in the making. America shifted from a predominantly rural population to one that was more urban in 1920. This pattern continues today. In 1990, 25% of Americans still lived in rural counties. Today that proportion is closer to 17%. A more important characteristic is the difference between urban and rural areas in terms of income, poverty rates, and unemployment. According to research from the US Department of Agriculture, urban residents make nearly 30% more per year than do rural residents and the difference between these regions is growing. (USDA 2015). The rate of urban employment is 112% above what it was in 2000, while rural employment is at 97%. (USDA 2017). Consequently young people in rural areas are migrating to cities for employment and other opportunities, leaving the social fabric of rural areas older, fragmented, and less resilient. At the same time, the proportion of rural residents that are older or are veterans has substantially increased -- populations that need more not less health care.
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Sickness Unto Death Part IV: Dollars and Sense - In Sickness and Health ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 06/03/2017 11:50 PM
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Murphys, CA...We pay more for our health care -- in some cases, twice as much as countries like France. Is it worth it? There can be no argument, however you want to analyze health care delivery and the value of outcomes, the American health care system is significantly more expensive than any other comparable system in the world. The US spends $9451 per person on health care. That is 121% more than citizens of Japan spend on health care. (OECD 2015). The next nearest country to the United States, in terms of health care spending, is Norway which spends $6567 per capita. In other words, the U.S. spends far, far more than other nations -- and on a few very important measures is performing nowhere as well.
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Sickness Unto Death Part III: Why Katsu is Healthier Than Carl? ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 05/27/2017 02:10 PM
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Murphys, CA...Americans like to think of themselves as the wealthiest, healthiest, and luckiest country in the world. I won't debate the first and last points here, but, the United States is decidedly not the healthiest. How do we know that?
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Sickness Unto Death Part II: Who Knew It Could Be So Complicated? ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 05/18/2017 12:55 PM
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Murphys, CA...Ever been to a hospital? Apparently, not President Trump. How else to explain his apology for not initially getting a "repeal and replace" bill through Congress, by incredulously asking of healthcare, "who knew it was so complicated?"
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Sickness Unto Death: An American Dilemma. Part One ~ By John MacWillie, Ph.D. |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 05/10/2017 12:41 PM
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Murphys, CA...Introduction: The United States is alone among industrialized nations in using wealth as a gatekeeper for access to health care. The wealthier you are, the more and better health care you get. The national debate that is now taking place focuses on whether every individual, irrespective of their income, should have access to great health care.
This is a series of eight articles on a single theme to be released once a week. Copyright license granted under |
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Week Five Op-Ed By Former Calaveras County Supervisor Tom Tryon On The "War On Drugs" |
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Posted by: thepinetree on 04/10/2017 06:34 PM
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Angels Camp, CA...Open letter to Assemblyman Norman Waters in the summer of 1985: I read your recent letter concerning the Tri County Narcotics Task Force with great interest. While you correctly point out the economic and human costs associated with drug abuse and that the problem of drug abuse is increasing, you fail to conclude that our current government policies of longstanding have failed. Your suggested response of greater coercion and intimidation within the policing power of the state will as surely fail as the policing power has failed to date to control drug abuse.
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