Your money...or your

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By SYLVIA The U.S. government has spent over $2.6 trillion on the military in the last seven years.

Yet the amount spent on health and medical needs is a national disgrace.

The United States is the only industrialized country without a national health plan. Britain, France, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and all of the countries in the "Soviet bloc" have nationalized health plans.

This country ranks 17th in the Behind the lines world in its infant mortality rate. The cost of private healthcare insurance continues to climb for all users-including senior citizens as well as members of union health plans. Most private health plans are increasing their deductables, taking rising costs out of the pockets of our elderly and working people.

Catastrophe for elderly In July of this year, Congress passed a "Catastrophic Health Act," which was supposed to be a boon for the elderly. It has actually turned into a catastrophe for the elderly. The Medicare coverage for senior citizens will cost $4 more per month.

The new health coverage also imposes a 15 percent tax surcharge on social security income. By the year 1993, the income tax surcharge increases to 28 percent.

However, in its continuing efforts to be "fair" to both the rich and poor alike, the government has capped taxation of salaries at $45,000. This which birds such as dippers live on, cannot survive in such acidity. So there's less food for the birds to take."

Britain, in fact, "exports" its acid rain through the use of towering smokestacks that allow means that if you earn $200,000, you will still be taxed for healthcare at the $45,000 rate.

All of the elderly with an income of $25,000 or more will pay an income tax on one-half of their Social Security as well as on their regular income.

Even worse, many operations and medical needs have been cut out because of costs. So if you are elderly, do not expect hospitals to give you necessary life-saving operations if they are too " costly."

Cutbacks in AIDS care The title of this article, "Your money or your life," takes on even more important meaning for people who have AIDS.

One of the few drugs that has proven to help in prolonging the lives of AIDS patients is AZT.

This medicine costs from $8000 to $10,000 per year per patient.

But federal assistance to help cover the cost of AZT is supposed to run out on Sept. 30 of this year. catastrophic effects. Woodland songbirds, for example, eat huge quantities of insects that feed on crops or carry disease.

Imagine a world without songbirds! In the United States, many species have declined The federal program covers this cost for those who do not qualify for Medicare and whose yearly gross family income is $40,000 or less. Ten thousand dollars out of wages of $40,000 or less is a big bite.

In California, the state has decided to continue funding for AZT treatments until at least December. However, the State Office of AIDS has said that no new AIDS patients may join the program after Sept. 30.

The associate director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health says there are about 30 new people a month who would qualify for AZT treatments from San Francisco alone. They will be turned down because of lack of funds.

To be turned away from one of the few treatments that could prolong life is nothing more than pronouncing a death sentence on AIDS victims. We need to prolong life as long as possible until a cure or vaccine is founddespite the fact that scientists say lifethat development of such drugs is some time off.

A national health plan The death rate of AIDS victims is horrendous. To date in the United States there have been 70,208 cases of AIDS reported, including 19,773 this year. There have been 39,620 deaths, or 56 percent.

The victims were waiters, truck drivers, fathers, mothers, gays, straights, artists, teachers, infants, teenagers, young men and women, and senior citizens. In other words, they were humans who come from all walks of life.

They were taxpayers, just as are all working people. They, like all of us, wish the government would have spent $2.6 trillion to save lives rather than spend $2.6 trillion on death and destruction.

What we need is a national health plan which would cover every individual in this country and provide the health services necessary for everyone.

Closing date:

Sept. 30, 1988