Health Care Debate Making You Sick?

The national debate on health care has caused people on all sides of the issue to break out in hideous rashes, violent ulcers, and astronomical blood pressures, not to mention fits of hysteria and complete breaks with reality. It's hard to stay focused on the facts in the current atmosphere, but this is a topic that's just too important to ignore. So grab your antacid and check out some of these relevant sites.

Healthreform.gov is a sort of one-stop shop for information on the Obama administration's policy with regard to health care reform. The reports section is a great place to start finding background information on specific health care topics.

NC Health Info has prepared a list of reliable sources of information on the differing ideas for the ways health care in this country should change. And our former Personnel Librarian, Beth Ellington, helped to create it so you know it's awesome.

The Congressional Research Service report: Health Insurance Reform and the 111th Congress is an excellent overview of the bills relating to health care change, but was published May 15, 2009, so is lacking the most recent legislative efforts. The Congressional Budget Office has a page devoted to their health care reform-related reports and cost analyses.

H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 is a major bill that is not included in the above-mentioned report. Opponents of the bill have engaged in a vigorous misinformation campaign about the content of the legislation, and Factcheck.org refutes the claims and explains the actual components of the bill in its reports, Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200 and False Euthanasia Claims.

Finally, this 2004 report from the Institute of Medicine, Insuring America's Health, reminds us why this debate is essential. The Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance (the authors of the report) found that 18,000 unnecessary deaths per year are caused by simply not having health insurance. So, no matter how much it makes your ears hurt and your eyes cross, please keep paying attention to the discussion, keep offering input to policy makers, and keep demanding transparency and accountability in our legislative process.