This is mostly a link dump so I can come back and find these articles again if I need them.

• Frontline: 5 Capitalist Countries and how they do healthcare – a good roundup, with few details, but a nice starting point.
• Newsweek: A science fact check – describes a worldwide “charity” of volunteer scientists and physicians who review treatments and identify whether they’re effective.

And then there’s one of the most useful sites I’ve found on health care and politics so far, Politifact. These folks are taking those things you’re hearing on TV or reading in the paper and fact-checking them. Then, they post the results online with a grade ranging from “true” to “mostly true” to “half true” to “false” to “pants on fire”. They also occasionally check to see if a politician accused of flip-flopping on an issue did.

It’s a particularly good place to find information on who said what and whether it was true, because most of the news I learn about health care right now is third-hand (so-and-so on the radio/tv/whatever that congress said….) and that means that it’s getting blown out of proportion…. and when it’s a lie to begin with, well, it’s no wonder everyone is afraid and confused.

Probably more on this later, but for now I’m just trying to learn everything possible to find out what the hell’s really going on.