Health Reform

I have a confession to make: I'm burnt out on health reform. I know, it's terrible since I'm getting a PhD on the politics of health services. I don't know everything about health policy, but I know enough to realize that the debate has been twisted and distorted tremendously by both sides. What a complex issue! Suddenly, health reform turned into a debate about abortion; what a mess. I'm also hoping that we can finally put to rest the idea that health reform is a government takeover, that is a real big stretch.

As you have probably heard, 60 Senators have supposedly agreed to support health reform (the cloture vote is tonight at 1am). Although a major breakthrough, there are still many hurdles that have to be passed before a passed bill arrives on Obama's desk. The biggest question will be what compromises will come out of the conference bill between the Senate and the House. Does anyone know if the conference bill needs 60 votes as well, or is that step automatically skipped?

Although I'm a bit burnt out, I will be really interested to see what happens at this point. I don't know enough of the details to know whether I would prefer the House version (which includes a public option plan) or the Senate version (which doesn't include a public option, but does include an opportunity to buy into a privately run plan that is monitored by the same people who monitor the plan for federal employees). Either one seems fine to me.

Have you read David Brooks' latest column on health reform? I think it's one of the most balanced (brief) discussions I've seen. I agree with a rebuttal I read elsewhere that his arguments against reform aren't really that strong, but I still think people have some legitimate concerns.

Lamaze International

I was recently quoted in a parent.com article about our experience taking Lamaze-certified prenatal classes before Olivia's birth and the way it helped us feel prepared. Here's the link to the full article: http://features.parents.com/natural-birth-methods.html

Here's my quote:

“When my wife, Sarah, and I had our first child we felt we were in many ways better prepared than most. I was working on a master's degree in public health and she is a registered nurse. However, we had a lot of questions about pregnancy and the birth process, and we wanted to be able to make informed choices. Thus we signed up for and attended an eight-week childbirth preparation class with a Lamaze Certified Instructor.

“This instruction gave us more confidence in my wife’s body and ourselves. During labor, many things our Lamaze Instructor taught us were useful, such as the labor position my wife used: on her hands and knees. We were taught that she should move around and be in positions that were the most comfortable for her. My wife refused to have continuous fetal monitoring because she found labor so much more painful on her back. We also stayed home longer, because I felt more confident supporting my wife through early labor and thus she was never confined to a bed.” —David K. Jones, husband to Sarah Sacuto

Phish Fall Tour

It's so great to have Phish back! Here's a couple clips from one of their recent shows at MSG in NYC (no, we didn't make the trip). The above clip is the Rolling Stones song "Shine a Light," and the below clip is of their song "First Tube," (also from one of their MSG shows).




Sarah and I did get to the first show of the tour in Detroit (my 19th and her 2nd Phish shows). Thank you to our babysitters who made the evening possible! Here's a brief clip of the jam after the song "46 Days." There's nothing like the light show at a Phish concert!