The Problem (which sounds pretty bad) Climate change. Global warming. The greenhouse effect. Devastating wildfires, dangerous air quality. Catastrophic weather events and mass human migration. It all sounds like post-apocalyptic fiction except that it's real. Inside our air-conditioned offices and homes it can still be possible to be optimistic. Maybe it's nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe it isn't our fault and would have happened without human activity. Maybe we don't know what will happen and it won't be that bad. If we jettison optimism and embrace responsibility it is easy to become overwhelmed and paralyzed. And possibly a time will come when the best approach will be to just hold our spouses, children, grandchildren and animal companions close and tell them we have always loved them. But now is not that time. So many humans! In a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Deborah J. Anderson wrote an article entitled Population and the E
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.