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It seems like these days there is a vaccine for everything. From chicken poxs to typhoid, if theres a vaccine your new born is sure to get it, in an attempt to keep them as healthy as possible. Although vaccines do prevent you from getting some very serious diseases as well as preventing common infections, new research has shown that an increase in birth diffracts, Down Syndrome in particular, may be linked to this rush of vaccines. As the number of child vaccinations goes up each year, so does the amount of children with Down Syndrome One Ashland mom argues there must be a correlation. She states that she would rather her child get sick and fight through it then possible contract a birth defect. People across the globe are standing right by this moms side. Famous actress Jenny Mcarthy, had a child that was born perfectly healthy. After receiving his douse of vaccinations, the baby came down with Autism. Jenny concludes that it must be the shots that turned her sweet young child into the troubled kid he is today. All this begs the question, could vaccines really be the reason so many young people are getting birth defects?

"The Vaccine War." Frontline: PBS. WGBH Educational Foundation, 27 Apr. 2010. Web. 01 June 2014. .

Just as the Vaccine causing birth defects myth got started, experts started to shut it down. Although it is agreed that certain added ingredients in the vaccines may cause birth defects, the actual vaccine itself is not to blame. Experts have been testing this myth from as early as 1999, and over 22 studies show no correlation among birth defects and autism. The fact that birth defects occur after vaccinations is purely coincidence. Removing these bad ingredients, researchers now say they are confident in their studies, and confident that newborns around the world that take vaccines, will not contract autism or another birth defect, unless its in their genetics that is. For Mcarthy, she will be harder to convince.

Brink, Susan. "One Thing We Know About Autism: Vaccines Aren't to Blame." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 16 July 2013. Web. 02 June 2014. .

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One key characteristic of the merit system is that government employees are hired based on their skill and not because of their political connections. Prior to employment, workers must complete a test to see if their skills are adequate for the position.

The federal bureaucracy is very large and thus independent. Operating like a small city, there are specialized units within the bureaucracy. This allows the bureaucracy to be very independent because many people are specialists in their own respective areas.

Congress has its own unique way of dealing with agencies. Using appropriations, congress can either reward or punish an agency, thus controlling it. The courts can rule certain ways to control interest groups, but interest groups can fight back. Using their first amendment, interest groups try to do things that congress can't necessarily stop.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q1.pdf

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Two provisions that protect individuals that try to influence politics are the first and tenth amendment. The first amendment gives people freedom of speech and freedom of press, two very important things when trying to impact politics. The tenth amendment states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." and also protect individuals.

Different interest groups use various methods for getting what they want. Through litigation; grassroots lobbying, and campaign contributions, interest groups will do whatever it take to pass a bill or get a certain official elected.

Litigation is an interest groups way of getting what they want. They use the law as there secret weapon. Sometimes, they use portions of various laws to further their cause, while other times they use it as a threat against their opponents. In the 1940s and 1950s, the NAACP sued several segregated school districts. This ended in the Brown v Board of Education decision in 1954. Apart from this particular example, many other special intrest groups used litigation to get what they wanted.

Yet another method is through campaign contributions. This method is faster than grassroots lobbying or litigation, but equally as effective. When a special interest group donates to a certain official, they are in a sense, buying there way into the campaign. When they want something passed or not, they can play the "I donated lots of money to your campaign" card. This forces the leader to make influenced decisions in fear of losing funding. This form of "bribery" is also illegal to some extent. As the federal government wants all of its elected officials to be there own person rather than puppets of major corporations.

Grassroots lobbying is the final way intrest groups. This technique only works on certain issues that the majority of people are concerned about. It does not work on issues that are too complicated for the majority to understand, or on issues that few people care about. Grassroots lobbying is a face to face form of lobbying. Special interest groups send out "foot soldiers" to spread the word and make more people vote. When it comes to the time where the decision is to be made, the pressure of the masses force a decision.

One specific governmental regulation of interest groups is through PACs, or political action committees. They place regulations on how much a pac can give to an interest group, controlling how much one person can donate.

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap10_us_govt_politics_q1.pdf

Health care by country

United Kingdom

Percent of GDP spent on health care: 8.3
Average family premium: 0
Co-pay: 0 for most services, very little for somethings like prescriptions, eyeglasses, and dental. Young people and old people pay nothing at all.

What is it?
-Government provides and pays for healthcare.

How does it work?
-People pay taxes for health care and everybody benefits from it whether you need it or not.
-GP must see patient first.
-focus on preventive care

Concerns?
-Long waits and limited choice
-must go where you are supposed to, although, they are working to allow the patients to choose their doctor.

Japan

Percent of GDP spent on health care: 8
Average family premium: $280 a month. Employers pay half.
Co-pay: 30% of the cost of the procedure, but its limited based on your income.

What is it?
-Everybody must have health insurance.
-workers get it through work
-everybody else must pay for it privately unless they can't afford it
-Hospitals and doctors are in the private sector.

How does it work?
- Citizens can go to any specialist they want for free
- Negotiate prices every two years to keep price down.

Concerns?
-Spend too little on health care

-hospitals are in debt because they don't have patients that visit them regularly

Germany 

Percent of GDP spent on health care: 10.7 

Average family premium: $750 per month. Pegged to patients income
Co-pay: $15 every three months

What is it?
-Buy their insurance from one of over 200 non profit "sickness funds"

-Poor receive public assistance

How does it work?
-Sickness funds bargain with doctors as a group.
-may go straight to specialist, but may have to pay higher co-pay.

Concerns?
-German doctors make less than U.S. doctors
- Richest 10% can pay for other insurance that costs more but allows quicker doctor visits.

Taiwan

Percent of GDP spent on health care: 6.3
Average family premium: $650 a year for a family of four.
Co-pay: 20 percent of the cost of drugs, up to $6.50; up to $7 for outpatient care; $1.80 for dental and traditional Chinese medicine. There are exemptions for major diseases, childbirth, preventive services, and for the poor, veterans, and children.

What is it? 

-all citizens must have health insurance

-comes from one government source.

-working people pay rates split with employers

-others pay flat rate

How does it work?

-every citizen has smart card that bills insurer.

-can see any doctor without prior recommendation

Concerns?

-not enough money to pay for all the expenses. 

-people pay less for medical care, so theres not enough money to keep the buildings running. 

Switzerland

Percentage of GDP spent on health care: 11.6

Average family premium: $750 paid entirely by consumers. Poor get a break

Co-pay: 10% of the cost of services, up to $420 a year

What is it?

-All citizens must have coverage

-low income receive breaks

How does it work? 

- Not allowed to make a profit on basic plan

- can't cherry pick young and healthy clients

-negotiations lead to set prices that can't be raised above agreed amount

Concerns?

-Swiss system is second most expensive in the world

-swiss don't have gate keepers, but require discounts to be given to people who use them. 

The system I like the best is a combination of several of the above systems. I do not feel like any one country deals with health insurance perfectly. If i had to choose one of the preexisting countries systems, I would probably choose Taiwan due to their excellent health care system. Citizens receive great health care at a low cost and don't have to pick and chose between health insurance providers.