While the health care debate continues in the United States, there’s one voice you haven’t heard much from: nurses. “While a number of our professional organizations have spoken up and even testified on Capitol Hill about proposed health care reform efforts, nurses have not been asked to the table as equal contributors and participants in the national health care debate,” said T. Heather Herdman, PhD, RN, Executive Director of NANDA International (NANDA-I).

On Tuesday night, Rep. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) took to the House floor to give his take on the GOP health care plan. His opinion: Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.

Kimberly Young, 22, died from swine flu on Wednesday. Sadly, it has been reported that she delayed treatment due to a lack of health insurance. Although there's no guarantee that earlier treatment would have saved her life, it would be hard to find a more obvious example of the need to fix our broken health insurance system.

At the Richmond Times-Dispatch “public square” forum yesterday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) took questions from his constituents on the health reform debate for the first time this summer. One such constituent, Patricia Churchill, spoke about a close family member, now unemployed and thus uninsured, who is dying of tumors. Cantor suggested that Churchill’s relative seek “existing government programs” or find charity.

I met Sarah at a local café. We both happened to be there enjoying one of those rare occasions where the kids were not with us and we were able to sit and sip (not gulp!) a cup of coffee. We strike a conversation because we are both teachers and the beginning of the school year is fast approaching. Then Sarah makes the comment that starts it all.

This is disturbing, and it shows, as Bill Moyers said recently to Bill Maher, lack of morality in American Society. He told Maher that Universal Health Care is evidence of a "deeply moral society," yet our finest and bravest* are excluded from private health insurance?

While the storm continues to circulate around proposed health care reform, it is clear it should be called health INSURANCE reform. And while "death panel" arguments make the rounds of the conservative pundits, they fail to address the "death panels" already existing in the form of, once again, insurance companies. Take a look at some reports about crazy insurance company opinions on "pre-existing conditions."

Former US President Bill Clinton, the last president to attempt an overhaul of the health care system, said today that the President Obama will win passage of his health care initiative. He even went so far as to say that there would even be some Republican senators who would support the legislation. Clinton speculated that Obama might be able to win over Maine Republicans Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

Heath care insurers who refuse to cover treatment for eating disorders is not a new issue. In fact, there has not been much progress made over the past few years to convince health care insurance companies to provide adequate coverage for treatment for eating disorders, such as anorexia. More than 11 million people have eating disorders in the United States and for the most part The National Eating Disorders Association reports that coverage is sorely lacking.

The New England Journal of Medicine released the results of a national survey of physicians on Monday. Of the 2,130 physicians survey, nearly 3/4 of them support some type of public health insurance option. The hope and intention is that it will compete with the private health insurance providers and make coverage more affordable.