All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

It's a key factor used to determine the quality of health care in industrialized nations: the infant mortality rate. Sadly, the United States has not faired well in that category. In fact, it ranks 30th in the world - behind most of Europe, Japan and Israel.

Premature delivery is a leading cause of death for newborns and the rate of babies arriving too soon has climbed a staggering 36 percent since 1984. Technology and medicine have improved by leaps and bounds since then - so why is the preemie rate rising?

Dr. Alan Fleischman of the March of Dimes says factors like obesity and smoking can lead to early labor, but there's a bigger problem. Twenty percent of women in child bearing years have no health insurance - and there is no guaranteed access to prenatal care if they do get pregnant.

Education and access are the tools needed for the U.S. to strive for first place - and allow more of our tiniest citizens to enjoy a first birthday.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

A nineteenth century American poet named James Russell Lowell once wrote, "Compromise makes a good umbrella, but a poor roof."

If that pithy quote proves true, the health care reform bill headed for the Senate floor is about to get all wet.

Senator Harry Reid made the decision to advance a bill including a public option - well sort of. It would create a government plan to serve as competition for private insurance companies - but it allows states to opt out.

The very existence of the option in the bill makes it a tough sell. No Republicans will support it. Neither will Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, and even some moderate Democrats are now on the fence.

But if there is a public plan at all, experts say it will be more effective in negotiating lower prices if it's truly national.

Without the 60 votes necessary to block a filibuster, this bill may end up on the ground - like a broken umbrella after a storm.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News

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Picture it: with the summer recess behind him, a young President prepares to deliver the most important speech of his first term in office. The topic - health care reform. Amid controversy and confusion, his task is to explain exactly what he hopes to achieve and how he plans to do it.

I'm talking about former President Bill Clinton. It was September, 1993.

Tonight, another young President will deliver his September song to a tough crowd on a really tough topic.

Before President Clinton's speech, just 13 percent of the nation understood his health care plan. And by mid-October of that year, the number was just 18 percent.

For President Obama to be successful in his effort, he's going to need a much bigger return than that.

The commander-in-chief needs to play educator-in-chief and explain simply and specifically what he hopes to achieve and how he plans to do it before history repeats itself.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

While the White House and Congress wring their hands over what to do next on the nation's health care front, there is a small pilot program in Detroit that directly attacks one of the problems that makes health insurance so expensive for all of us. That's because it addresses health itself, and the increasing cases of obesity, high blood pressure and heart attacks that are doing so much damage all around us.

To go back a few steps, Detroit – a city of some 830,000 people – has no major grocery store chain within its boundaries. No Jewels. No Safeways. No Kroegers. No nothing. Crime is one factor in the flight of food stores. Neglect is another. Whatever the cause, the consequences are devastating. So the economically hard-pressed state of Michigan is doing something about all of it, unveiling a $75,000 pilot program to bring food to the front door.

Called MI Neighborhood Food Movers, the plan is simplicity itself.

"There's no rocket science to this at all," said Lisa Johanan when we interviewed her last week. Lisa is executive director of the Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp., and founder of Peaches and Greens grocery. "I mean it's a very simple thing – put some produce on a truck and you drive through the neighborhood."

And that's exactly what Peaches and Greens and two other suppliers do – bringing fresh vegetables and fruit into inner city neighborhoods bristling with derelict buildings, vacant lots and tons of liquor stores.

"In Detroit, 92 percent of food stamp recipients purchase their grocers from a liquor store or a gas station or a pharmacy," Lisa told us. "What kind of food do you get at a liquor store," I asked Lisa.

"You don't get anything fresh. That's for sure," she said.

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Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that nothing is certain except death and taxes.

The health care reform proposal involves both of those boogey-men -two realities that Americans have never really embraced.

The plan calls for voluntary end-of-life counseling. Medicare would reimburse doctors for having that talk with patients every five years and lawmakers now have the unenviable task of explaining this doesn't mean rationing health care or deciding who lives or dies.

Experts say the government could save as much as 90 billion dollars in 10 years by preventing over-treatment for the dying. But others wonder why it's necessary to pay doctors for something they should be doing anyway and worry that when cost is connected to care, the latter will suffer.

While we do not have to go gently into that good night, there's no reason not to have a reasonable conversation with your family and doctor about the quantity of care you want and the quality of life you'll have.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

CBS News has learned that thousands of people are cancelling their AARP memberships, angry over the organization’s support of health care reform. In the face of membership opposition, the AARP has offered somewhat confusing positions - so much so that even President Obama is apparently confused about exactly where they stand.

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At a town meeting hosted by Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania resident stood up to say that the health care debate has "awakened the sleeping giant."

Not exactly.

What's it's done, it seems, is stirred a hornets nest, and uncovered disturbing attitudes and emotions that have nothing to do with policy.

Are we really still debating health care when a man brings a handgun to a church where the President is speaking?

How does a swastika spray-painted on a Congressman's office further a discussion about Medicare?

These are tough and challenging times and lots of people are scared about their jobs and the economy. But we can't let fear and frankly ignorance - drown out the serious debate that needs to take place - about an issue that affects the lives of millions of people.

It's time for everyone to take a deep breath and to focus on the task at hand before this sideshow drowns out the main event.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

In the 19th Century, the French writer de Tocqueville came to America to see democracy in action and he witnessed its purest form -- the New England town meeting.

Townspeople came together to govern their communities.

And de Tocqueville said town meetings teach people how to use democracy, and how to enjoy it.

James Madison meanwhile had a different opinion. At town meetings, he wrote, "passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason."

In modern times, politicians have borrowed the term "town meeting" for their forums with supporters - and, can we please not call them "town halls?"

A town hall is a building. It's like calling a baseball game a baseball stadium.

And now, the town meeting has evolved yet again. It's become the center of the debate over health care, the audience often well-organized and very scripted.

Not exactly what de Tocqueville or Madison witnessed, but the passion and enjoyment of democracy goes on.

That's a page from my notebook.

Katie's on assignment.

Here's the skinny on health care in America: We are simply too fat and it's costing us a fortune in medical bills.

Despite all those fad diets and fat free products in the grocery store aisles, obesity has increased by 37 percent since 1998. Along with the love handles and muffin tops come a smorgasbord of problems - including diabetes and heart disease.

A new study published in the journal Health Affairs found that obese people pay an average of $1,400 more per year in health care costs, a total of $147 billion annually.

The head of the group behind the report sent a wake-up call to Congress, saying that unless the growing problem of obesity is addressed, America will be unable to contain its health spending.

Experts say essentials like proper diet and exercise need to be at the core of any health policy lawmakers consider.

The only way to tighten our belts - is to tighten our bellies.

I'm Kelly Wallace, CBS News.

Katie Couric is in Washington today interviewing President Obama.

One key topic is his health care reform plan - a proposal that's been collecting the cuts and bruises of politics from both sides of the Congressional gauntlet.

Republicans say the bill could be his "Waterloo." Senator James DeMint even said it could break him.

Some members of the president's own party believe the goal of getting the work done before the August recess is ambitious at best, with so many details still to hammer out.

President Obama says a deadline is necessary to end the inertia and inaction that have stalled health care reform for 50 years.

There is much debate about what needs to be done, and only about half of Americans approve of the president's handling of health care. But the vast majority agree - something has to change to control skyrocketing costs.

What they need is assurance that reform will be done right and not just right now.

I'm Michelle Miller, CBS News.