Hi everyone!

As promised yesterday, here is a post requirement for Tuesday. Because we have no class Tuesday, be prepared to use some of that time on it as well as ordinary out of class homework time if you need to to produce a high-quality post.

Thinking about class on Oct 1 (yesterday), our first post regarding the issues in the health reform debate, and the readings so far, respond to the following (Be careful to read all parts of a question and respond to them. You should expect to write at least a couple of paragraphs for each question):

QUESTION #1.) What makes an opinion different from a "fact"? Are all opinions equally valid? If so, why? If not, why not? What impact do opinions and "facts" have on individual consumer health and on the health of a whole population of consumers?

Background for #2:
A "market" perspective (aka free market perspective) is one that says, basically, supply and demand will work together to solve a problem. Little or no government involvement is needed, and the government should actually be seen as inappropriate according to this point of view.

QUESTION #2.) In our Public Health Code of Ethics, an underlying value is that "Humans have a right to the resources necessary for health" (Public Health Leadership Society, 2002, p. 2). How does this underlying value add to our basic three ethics to help explain why the majority of public health professionals do not encourage using the free market perspective as a base for health care systems?

QUESTION #3.) When looking at the "new media" out there - the grassroots groups on the web, Twitters that seem to get a lot of attention, talk radio, 24-hour news channels, etc - do you see more of the market perspective or more that appears to be based on a Public Health ethics perspective? What does the general public need to know? What are the barriers to them knowing it?

Use references as you need to to back yourself up. Be careful to use a quote when you want to use someone else's words. When you are using their ideas but actually your OWN words, you must still tell us where you found the ideas! Use the format in Question 2 above, giving the author (or group responsible), the date if you can find it, and the page # or section of a website. Then add a list of references that look like the example below.

References
Public Health Leadership Society. (2002). Principles of the ethical practice of public health. Retrieved October 2, 2009 from
http://www.sph.unc.edu/general/ethics_resources_4025_7195.html