Public health reports
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In canada, health care is publicly insured and available to all at no charge. Recently, financial pressures have threatened the system and led to considerable debate about how to save it. ⋯ Using as an example cataract surgery-a procedure that is available both publicly and privately-the authors look at some common beliefs about private health care in Canada. They conclude that the growth in private sector cataract surgery does not appear to be related to cutbacks or rationing, that private access does not necessarily shorten waiting times, and that, contrary to popular belief, it is not only the well-to-do who pay for private surgery in Canada.
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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has created the first statewide surveillance system in the nation that tracks both fatal and nonfatal weapon injuries. The authors summarize findings for 1994 and discuss their public health implication. Suicides were the leading cause of firearm fatality, while self-inflicted injuries accounted for only 3% of nonfatal firearm injuries. ⋯ Shooting homicides increased sixfold during the late 1980s among black Boston males, while homicides by other means remained stable. In other Massachusetts cities, injury rates were higher among 20 to 24-year-olds than among teenagers, and, in some areas, incidence rates were as high or higher among Hispanic males than among non-Hispanic black males. Between 1985 and 1994, the proportion of firearm injuries caused by semiautomatic pistols increased from 23% to 52%, according to police ballistics data.