Weekly Address: Health Care Reform

President Obama focuses on the rising cost of health care to make the point that health care reform is urgent.



According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the United States has the most expensive healthcare system with people paying approximately $316,600 in healthcare costs over their lifetime.

Car Smells

So how are car smells related to health? Cars are made of all sorts of material, some of which are toxic to humans. The hosts of the radio program, Car Talk, had a great interview with Jeff Hearhart who has studied car smells to identify what car chemicals are released into the air.

The folks at HealthCar.org have studied as many cars as they can to identify some of the best rated cars with the least toxic chemicals and those cars with the worst ratings. The Nissan Versa was rated the worst while the Chevy Cobalt was rated the best. You can check to see the rating of your car if it has been tested, here.

Our Nation's Power

NPR created a great graphic on our nation's power grid. It maps out our current power usage and shows our future capacity for solar and wind power.

Green House

Clayton Homes has introduced a home that is stylish, innovative, environmentally friendly, and affordable. The homes cost approximately $100 per square foot and the cost of living is low since the energy savings of having a home with solar panels, energy efficient windows, and a rain water catchment system is usually large. According to the manufacturer, it only costs a $1 a day in energy costs to run utilities. Surprisingly, it also looks comfortable with bamboo floors, a lot natural light from windows, and a modern kitchen. They call it an i-house.

Here are some of the features of the i-house.
And here is a virtual tour of their houses.

A Vision for High Speed Rail

This is a very exciting project--it'll improve our rail system, decrease our automobile dependency, provide a variety of people with access to travel they would not normally have, and increase economic and commercial development along the routes.

Health Gadgets: CardioTrainer

Cell phones are now being used to keep healthy. Android phones, like the G1, allow users to download applications made by developers. One application made by WorkSmart Labs, called CardioTrainer, allows users to track their workouts. It will record your jogging, biking, or hiking route and give you detailed information about how far you went, what your average speed was, and how the elevation changed throughout the route. It's a great program to help you keep track of your workout goals. You can even send your route to Google Maps and share them with your friends, like this Myakka hike-


View Myakka in a larger map

Ugly Statistics

Timothy Noah at Slate.com, wrote a very interesting article on the importance of health care reform.

It starts here: "Between 1999 and 2008, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased six times faster than wages."

Here is a graph from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services--


Based on the families I've talked to, this graph accurately represents our health care reality.

Timothy notes what this means for the average worker, "Whatever pay increases the average worker received were wiped out, and then some, by the rapidly growing amounts deducted from his paycheck to cover health insurance." Wages have not increased in proportion to health care costs. Instead, health care costs have increased tremendously over the past ten years, making it harder for Americans to afford adequate care.