Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) on Friday gave an engaging speech on his <a href="http://wyden.senate.gov/issues/Legislation/Healthy_Americans_Act.cfm">h… reform plan</a> at the <a href="http://www.healthjournalism.org/calendar-details.php?id=175&amp;EventTy… of Health Care Journalists conference</a> in Seattle, getting in a nice laugh line when he called <a href="http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.HTML">COBRA insurance</a> “the only federal program named after a poisonous snake.”</p>

<p>The catastrophic 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Italy, the recent 4.3 temblor near San Jose and a rash of small quakes in Southern California made me wonder about something I haven't thought about in quite a while: What's going on with hospital seismic safety in quake-prone California? We're already overdue for "the big one."</p>

<p>When more than half of American families sampled in a recent poll say they're skimping on medical care to save money, that's a story by any measure - and one that's easy to localize. A new <a href="http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/posr022509pkg.cfm">study</a&gt; from the <a href="http://www.kff.org/"&gt;

<p>The <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation's</a> $100 million grant to the <a href="http://www.ipm-microbicides.org/index.htm">International Partnership for Microbicides</a> is big news for HIV prevention researchers frustrated by years of skimpy funding and scientific setbacks. The United Kingdom Department for International Development kicked in another $28.5 million.

<p>While reading New York Times health reporter Tara Parker-Pope's recent <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/in-health-still-leaving-childr… post</a></span> about children's health care, I was struck by the comment of a doctor named Elise:</p>

<p>SCHIP is <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h3-r4-QX2sJIwxAkeLfY3… on the table</a>!</p><p>
Let the wrangling begin.</p>