Happy October!
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The Protests in Hong Kong, Explained by Kasey Pukys
Since the beginning of June, protests that began in Hong Kong over one unpopular bill have since erupted into a fight for the future of their democracy all together. A peaceful march on June 16, 2019, in retaliation of the new “extradition bill,” grew to nearly 2 million participants, the largest in Hong Kong’s history. Yet, the roots of Hong Kong’s fight for democracy began years prior.
For decades, Hong Kong was a colony owned by Britain until it was returned to China under the “one country, two systems” agreement in 1997. Under this policy, Hong Kong would be a semi-autonomous region of China, in which they were officially a part of China but allowed to keep many liberties that were denied on the mainland, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and free, unrestricted internet access.
The “one country, two systems” agreement was only meant to last for 50 years (ending in 2047), but many Hongkongers have criticized Beijing for infiltrating their autonomy already. Hong Kong’s government, whose chief executive is appointed by a pro-Beijing committee, has “disqualified elected lawmakers, banned activists from running for office, prohibited a political party” and “jailed pro-democracy leaders.” Additionally, HKers can only vote for about half of the seats in their legislative council, or LegCo, with the other half belonging to Beijing loyalists.
The introduction of the local government’s “Extradition Bill” in February was the final straw for many HKers. Prompted by a murderer from Taiwan fleeing to Hong Kong to avoid prosecution, the extradition bill would allow people accused of crimes to be sent back to mainland China for prosecution and would apply retroactively to any crimes committed before its passage. HKers believe this is Beijing’s attempt to undermine their judicial independence and arrest those who speak out against the Chinese government despite their freedom of speech.
In response to the massive protests that have taken place consistently since June, chief executive Carrie Lam formally withdrew the bill on September 4, but protests have continued. Police force (including pepper spray, batons, tear gas, and bean bag rounds) on widely peaceful protesters has now led protesting HKers to demand an independent investigation into police misconduct and direct elections to preserve their democracy once and for all.
How can we help from abroad?
There are numerous ways that we can help pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, even if we are abroad. Actions that can be taken are both large and small, but they all spread awareness of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy cause.
- Petition to the United Nations here.
- Donate to 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund (legal aid from a transparent source) here.
- Learn more about the social media movement #EyeForHK.
- The Hong Kong Human Right and Democracy Act of 2019, a bill introduced by Rep. Christopher Smith and Sen. Marco Rubio that has bipartisan support, has recently been approved and will be voted on in the coming weeks. For more information on the bill and how to get involved, check out the links below:
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Racial Discrimination in Cleveland EMS by Scott Wang
The City of Cleveland Division of Emergency Medical Service, also commonly known as Cleveland EMS, functions as a transportation service for emergency ambulances in Cleveland. According to the main Cleveland EMS website, one fundamental aspect of the organization that Cleveland EMS prides itself on the diversity of its personnel, as the organization strives to recruit personnel that reflects the diversity of the Cleveland community. According to their cultural demographics, 65% identify as Caucasian, 26% identify as African American, 7% identify as Hispanic, 1% identify as Asian, and 1% identify as Other. Despite Cleveland EMS’s efforts to maintain a racially diverse committee, recent discrimination issues have suggested that a diverse committee alone cannot appropriately demonstrate equity in an organization.
On September 13th, several EMS captains held a conference to discuss a lawsuit they filed accusing the EMS commissioner of treating the five captains unfairly because they were black. Although the discrimination dates back to 2011, previous complaints filed along with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received too much pushback upon bringing up the accusations.
When the black EMS captains were asked to give examples of the ways in which the EMS commissioner discriminated them, they said that the EMS commissioner gave their white coworkers better shifts and rescheduled some of the black captains because too many black people were working together at the same time. They also said that they were punished for being late or sick whereas their white coworkers were exempt from the severity of the punishments.
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Title X defunding of Planned Parenthood by Nicole Palmer
What is Title X?
The Title X Planning Program was a federal grant program created in the 1970s to provide comprehensive family planning to low-income individuals. This includes contraception counseling and provision, breast and cervical cancer screenings, testing and treatment for STIs, and pregnancy diagnosis and counseling (Note: Title X has never paid for abortions). In 2016 alone, Title X funding provided over four million STI tests to men and women and nearly one million breast exams, among many other provisions for the 4 million that rely on Title X. It also works to end healthcare inequality in the US as 78% of Title X patients have incomes below 150% of the federal poverty level. Still, for every dollar spent through Title X, taxpayers save over $7 in Medicaid related costs.
What is a “gag” rule?
Title X was updated in the spring of 2018 by the Trump Administration with new requirements to receive funding. This includes that health care providers cannot mention the option of abortion care. Unfortunately, this withholds pertinent medical information and health care from patients and hurts the patient-provider trust relationship. There must also be a clear financial and physical separation between Title X funded programs and facilities where abortion is a part of the discussion regarding family planning (AKA places like Planned Parenthood, which serves 41% of all Title X patients while only making up 13% of Title X funded centers). This means that low-income individuals lose access to all of their choices regarding their bodies.
What can be done?
The House has passed a bill to stop the government from enforcing these new rules and so it will soon be voted on by the Senate. You can call your senators with THIS script. Otherwise, these rules will go into effect on March 4th, 2020.
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A Broken System by Shvetali Thatte
Despite spending the most amount of money per capita on healthcare compared to any other country, America has the highest mortality rate due to healthcare. America leads the world in terms of specialty care, technological advancements, and treatment options, but these facilities are not equally available. The high cost of healthcare in America prevents many people from being able to fully access what the American healthcare team provides.
How is the healthcare system structured?
Currently, America’s healthcare system has two sections: one private and one public. The public sector is managed by the government, and it includes groups such as Medicare and Medicaid. These groups assist in providing healthcare to the elderly and low-income families. For those who do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, private insurance companies have their own plans available for purchase. Insurance plans are often provided by employers for employees, but individuals can independently purchase healthcare if desired. Each insurance company has different plans available, and these plans vary in the services included, the types of doctors available within the network, and the annual cost as well as the premium and deductible value.
What is the biggest concern in the healthcare system?
America’s primary focus should be on primary care. In the report by The Commonwealth Fund, the authors noted that among the eleven wealthy countries surveyed, the U.S. offers its citizens the least financial support regarding high primary care costs.
What is primary care and how much does it cost?
Primary, or preventive, care is defined as care which focuses on comprehensive first contact. This care is given to individuals with undiagnosed health concerns, and it can include health promotion, disease prevention, health maintenance, counseling, and patient education. The average out of pocket cost for primary care is $49 for insured patients and $160 for uninsured patients. Compared to an average Canadian household, where 2.3% of total average household expenditures are spent on healthcare, the average American household spends 6.2% of expenditures. This drastic increase in spending is attributed to the lack of access, affordability, and equity regarding primary care.
What are potential solutions?
Although there is no ideal solution that has been developed for addressing the concern of primary care yet, potential options include increasing the number of clinics available for primary care, raising the salary and incentive for primary care physicians, emphasizing and promoting primary care in healthcare plans, and placing an emphasis on team-based care.
What can you do?
Urge for action. You have a voice, so fight for those who lack the knowledge and resources to speak up for their rights.
- Advocating: Writing persuasive letters to your representatives, calling your Congressman, or lobbying in your state capital are all ways to promote legislation for a better healthcare system in which primary care is reformed. Although healthcare is predominantly an independent industry in today’s society, many of the issues can only be resolved with government intervention. Consequently, having the government understand the voice of the people and respect it is a necessity; these letters should show the government that the healthcare industry is faltering in its role to provide top-quality care.
- Spreading information: Hold informational GAs with your community, neighborhood, family, etc, and breakdown policies in order for people to understand what they are paying for and how their healthcare is working. Allow them to understand the complexity of the healthcare system and the current flaws. Join people to advocate for policy change that will reduce the costs of healthcare, bringing welfare equality for everyone.
Primary care is essential to a functional healthcare system as it establishes consistency and efficiency for the patients. Without addressing the concern of primary care, the future will entail a greater delay in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions. As a result, more patients will be at risk of having undetected conditions, leading to increased costs for secondary and tertiary care. Primary care allows early detection and treatment for diseases, but without access to affordable primary care, patients’ risk of death increases tremendously as the health concerns go unnoticed.
Doctors have a moral obligation to treat patients regardless of race, religion, gender, etc. The government ought to help doctors uphold this obligation by facilitating the connection between patients and doctors. Healthcare is a right, not a privilege.
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