Insights

<p>After California voters soundly rejected several proposals to mitigate the state's staggering $21 billion budget deficit, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is suggesting unheard-of cutbacks in health and social programs. This time, the discussion isn't just about cutting money from the Healthy Families subsidized health insurance program, it's about <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-budget22-2009may22,0,3512305.story">s… it altogether</a>.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.chcd.org/">Center for Healthcare Decisions</a> has given itself a tough task. Its staff tries to bring together people from different economic brackets and get them to talk in very specific terms about all facets of health care. </p>

<p>Matthew William Wasserman of Katy, Texas, found a unique way to treat a female patient's back: "a sensory examination of the genital area."</p><p>That was according to the Texas Medical Board.</p><p>Now, Wasserman had only been out of medical residency for three years when this happened, and he did not have a lot of women in his graduating class at <a href="http://www.bcm.edu/ortho/class2003.htm">Baylor Medical College</a>. Still, one has to assume that most doctors know the basics of anatomy, male or female.</p>

<p>California journalists, you know how the state's special election is going to turn out. Late on election night, all of the budget-related propositions - save for the one regarding lawmaker pay raises - are <a href="http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/props/59.htm">failing miserably</a>. Even Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1056032.html">skipped town</a>.</p><p>So, now that ticked-off voters are turning down the stopgap budget fix proposed by Schwarzenegger, the question in the coming days will be: what happens to health care? </p>

<p>Anyone who has driven the highways around Los Angeles has seen the giant billboards with a chubby man stuffing a giant piece of cake in his mouth next to the words "Dieting Sucks." It's a promo for a plastic surgery practice that promises to use Lap-band surgery to cure overweight patients.</p>

<p>Anyone who has helped a friend or family member undergo cancer treatment knows the fear and frustration that can consume a patient's life. There are new, experimental treatments being touted every year, many of them only available outside of the United States.</p>

<p>Journalist. Santa Monica City Councilman. Music Producer. Entrepreneur. <a href="http://www.bobbyshriver.com/red.php">Bobby Shriver</a> has worn a lot of hats, some of them simultaneously. Now, while working as a councilman, he runs <a href="http://www.joinred.com/Home.aspx">(RED)</a&gt;, a company he created with Bono to fund the purchase and distribution of medications to fight HIV and AIDS in Africa. I reached him at his office in Santa Monica. </p><p>Here is a recap of our conversation. It has been edited for space and clarity. </p>

<p>The release of a major new <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/state_data/state_highlights/… report on states' tobacco control programs</a>, the first in 5 years, is a great peg for taking a look at what's happening in your state and community. The CDC report gives state-by-state breakdowns of smoking rates by age and other demographics and provides a snapshot of current state regulations on smoking.</p>

<p>Ouch. Medicare is expected to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-medicare13-2009may… out of money</a> in a mere eight years, according to a new <a href="http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html">report</a&gt; from the trustees who oversee the federal health insurance program primarily for the elderly. </p>

<p>The Record in Hackensack, New Jersey, awoke to its worst nightmare recently when one of its biggest advertisers pulled all of its ads. </p><p>The reason?</p>