The E. Coli Cure

Well, it's not so much a cure, but a new portable microscope designed by engineers at University of California, Los Angeles has been able to detect low levels E. coli in liquids and solids - not an easy feat. "It's a very challenging task to detect E. coli in low concentrations in water and food. This microscope could be part of a solution for field investigation," said Professor Aydogan Ozcan, one of the microscopes inventors from UCLA.

The microscope, which costs only around $100 to produce, is so cheap and lightweight, that scientists are hoping to use it in countries with less sophisticated technology. Professor Ozcan believes that "[w]ith just a small amount of training, doctors could use devices like these to improve healthcare in remote areas of the world with little access to diagnostic equipment."

This brand new technology could be extremely valuable in both the domestic and foreign health care markets. Because it is so inexpensive, it could be mass-produced, thereby creating a wider and more sophisticated health care system, spanning the whole globe. A cheaper, more widespread health care system? Uh, yes please. In addition, the portable technology would make it much easier to determine water and food safety in developing countries. Is that not what we've been striving to do in third world countries for years now? This microscope could be just the beginning; with all the new technology being created daily by inventors and entrepreneurs, the possibilities are nearly endless. Who knows, maybe one day the healthcare will be as commonplace as salt.

Americans Approve of Healthcare by Slim Majority

Taking a look at the Gallup polls measuring Americans' overall reaction and emotional reaction to the passage of the Healthcare bill, it's heartening to know that a majority, although by a slim margin, approve of the bill's passage. I had trouble loading the polls to this post, so I'll restate their findings for you here:

Overall Reaction to Passing the Healthcare Bill:

• 49% of adults said the passage of healthcare was a good thing, compared to 40% saying it was a bad thing. 11% had no opinion.
• As expected, a majority of the Democrats polled (79%) said the passage was a good thing, and a majority of the Republicans polled (76%) said it was a bad thing.
• Independents were deeply divided on the issue, with 46% saying it was a good thing, 45% saying it was a bad thing, and 10% holding no opinion

Emotional Reaction to Passing the Healthcare Bill:

• 50% of national adults are either enthusiastic or pleased about the bill's passage
• 42% of national adults are either disappointed or angry about the bill's passage
• 8% of national adults hold no opinion
• Democratic and Republican skews are as predicted (Democrats more pleased, Republicans more disappointed)
• The curve for Independents, however, is interesting: 10% are enthusiastic, 35% are pleased, 27% are disappointed, 20% are angry, and 9% have no opinion. Although the highest percentage are pleased, Independents are twice as likely to be angry than enthusiastic, which is interesting.

One of the most interesting observances from the second poll is that only about a third of national adults polled felt strongly about the passage of the bill (15% enthusiastic, 19% angry). Given all the national hype about healthcare and all the fierce political debate going on in Washington, you would think Americans would be more passionate about the bill.

I also found it interesting that most of those who oppose healthcare do so because of supposed rising costs of insurance (20%), the bill does not address the real problems (19%), and because they need more clarity on how the system would work (9%). The last point is completely bogus; there have been plenty of explanations out there deconstructing the bill to help the public understand its provisions, so if you don't want healthcare because you're too lazy to read an article explaining it, then I don't know what to say to you. Regarding the second point, I think this bill's a start, and a good one at that. Would you reject a helping of icing because you can't get the cake all at once? And regarding the first point...well, that's why insurance is now mandatory for everyone: to keep costs down, because now insurance companies actually have to cover people who are sick. Also, a main reason the bill was proposed in the first place was to keep costs down; insurance was not getting any cheaper, and people have been seeing their premiums rise all year.

So, what are your opinions? Where do you fit in on these Gallup polls? And why do you think the polls turned out the way they did?

Reconciliation: What is the Republican Strategy?

Senate Democrats have decided to take up budget reconciliation of the health bill to fix any last-minute errors and add necessary amends to the bill before it becomes law. For more information about what reconciliation involves and procedural details, please look here, but for now I would like to explore the Republican reconciliation strategy.

After losing, to put it bluntly, the healthcare debate, Republicans are now faced with a decision: to make worthwhile amends to a bill that they really have no chance of repealing and face criticism for supposedly "supporting" the bill, or reject all amends and blame Democrats for a lackluster bill, hoping that Americans will forget they didn't want healthcare in the first place. Right how, it's looking like they're leaning towards the latter, and that all Senate Republicans will appose the changes. Their top target to bring down is a list of changes to a proposed tax on high-cost employer-sponsored insurance policies. Obama had negotiated changes to the tax with the heads of organized labor, and successfully blocking the proposed changes could create a political "headache" for Obama.

A new strategy put forth by the Senate Republicans is to portray the changes desired by Senate Democrats as detrimental to the health bill. However, as the article states, "It was unclear that the argument would stick, given that many of the changes in the reconciliation measure are intended to adjust provisions the Republicans themselves had criticized."

But the question is, will these strategies work? Can the Republicans really succeed in portraying healthcare as a bad thing, and Democrats as the real "losers"? Politics is the game now, but when people's lives are saved and sick children suddenly receive care, I think the rules of the game will change drastically, and most likely not on the side of the Republican naysayers.

Landmark Healthcare Bill Passes

Today, the House of Representatives made history as it passed the Healthcare bill into law with a vote of 219 to 212.

To pass the bill, House Democrats made a deal with abortion opponents within their party that an executive order would be given restricting taxpayer dollars from funding abortion. This deal gave the Democrats the final votes they needed. The law requires that insurance companies give aid to all, even those with preexisting conditions, and extends healthcare to 32 million currently uninsured people. The latter significantly reduces rising healthcare costs and will eventually reduce federal budget deficits. The bill also adds 16 million people to Medicaid rolls and subsidizes private coverage to low to middle-income people, at a cost of $938 billion over 10 years. This cost will be offset by significant reductions in Medicare and new taxes and fees on businesses and affluent americans.

What are your opinions / outlooks on the law? Does it reach far enough, or does it fall short? Additionally, the vote took place along party lines, with no Republicans voting for the bill and about 35 Democrats voting against it as well. Why do you think there is such a deep divide between parties? Looking to the future, could the success of the bill determine the continuing success of either party?

Healthcare Race

With the recent Massachussetts Senatorial race going to a Republican, there is a concern with the passage of healthcare legislation. Obama is still optimistic despite this recent set back and believes we should continue to work on passing the legislation. With the Clinton healthcare not passing because of over-agression by the executive, the Obama administration needs to be wary of trying to be too agressive in passing legislation. However, persistance will be necessary to overcome this new obstacle. It will be a tough battle to get healthcare, but the effects of it will be worth it.

Welcome to the Ranks, Senator Brown

In the race for the Massachusetts Senate seat, Brown (Republican) has emerged victorious. This means that the Democrats have lost their sixty seat majority, and could possibly overthrow the healthcare changes President Obama has been working so hard on. This is an hour that Obama is probably mourning.

From the article, "In a race that became the center of national attention, Brown’s win is widely seen as a vote against the president’s agenda from one of the most reliably Democratic states. "

The article also notes the irony that Brown won, considering that the Senate seat in question belonged to Ted Kennedy, who dedicated his life to healthcare reform.