A new report is out about insurance and health care, and it's not good. If you think the cost of health care is high now, just wait...It's going to get even higher. Who would have thought that you could have insurance, and still not be able to afford healthcare? How is that possible? Only in America.

If you live in South Carolina, that just became a much more viable possibility. And as they say in the health insurance business, so goes Blue Cross & Blue Shield of South Carolina so goes the rest of heath care insurers. Medical tourism is not a new concept. People who are underinsured or who have no insurance have been going overseas for everything from heart surgery to hip replacements.

First: tomorrow we will have an open thread on BlogHer to talk about the Iowa Caucuses- so please check back on the homepage and weigh in with predictions, news, and, if you're an Iowan, real life tales! Now.... We hear a lot about 2008 being a “change” election. But what does change in politics really mean? I’ve put down some vignettes that have struck me in recent days- feel free to add more. Change: Voters care about social good, and they're less Party-identified

One third of Americans believe health care is the deciding issue of the 2008 campaign, half of Republicans favor universal health care, and voters in early primary states want candidates to address health care more than any other issue.

I am pleased to announce the beginning of BlogHer’s Election 2008 get-out-the-vote campaign! Women who blog are already mobilizing around political issues that engage us -- from KylaKae on mud-slinging and the Supreme Court to Rita Arens on the chipping away of S-CHIP to Dana on GOP Debate highlights, to Jen38 on the hidden motivations of attacking Hillary's Clinton's laugh, to Momocrats in today's New York Times. In the coming year, BlogHer's Politics and News team will work together to showcase the best writing by women on politics, as well as help you find everyone who is writing about the coming election. To help us help this community, today we’re introducing blog bling so you can show your support of getting out women's voices and the vote for Election 2008, and in the next month we’ll be unfolding:

It is both Emergency Nurses Week and Physician Assistant Week. I've have some pretty terrific experiences with both ER nurses and PAs and I've seen both treated horribly by patients and physicians. Emergiblog is written by Kim. She's been a nurse for 28 years, primarily in Emergency and Critical Care. 28 years.

Recently I had the opportunity to interview Celinda Lake , Democratic pollster. We talked a lot about risk, and what it means to women voters. Many women would agree risk keeps us up at night. When the Fed cut interest rates yesterday, I felt less anxious about life, and I know almost nothing about macroeconomics. But I took my cue from the powers that be. When I talked to Celinda, she started off by noting that Americans, women in particular, are very risk averse right now. Things are just too anxiety provoking: the housing slump, Iraq, health care costs, aging parents, how to save for retirement. In her language, the American Dream is less important than economic security. I highlight our discussion about risk and the ’08 election further down the page. We talked about Hillary. Lake noted that among women, Hillary Clinton “gets a lot of credit” because she addresses our economic anxieties (although so does Edwards, a lot), and women want to “vote for a woman.” We like the idea of a candidate who can relate to us. Because she tried and failed to change health care in 1993, Clinton gets a lot of credit on health care-- even though her plan is less comprehensive than Edwards’ or Obama’s. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton announced her long-awaited health care plan. It doesn’t call

This week's look around the net revealed an eclectic assortment of interesting items. Bioneers began working on environmental, economic and social issues in the 1990s. Over 3000 people now attend the annual Bioneers Conference with another 7000 participating via satellite. This year's conference will be in San Rafael, California, Oct. 19-21. Of 16 plenary speakers for this year, nine are women.

I'm a little frustrated about not hearing more concrete answers from the presidential candidates on the health-care crisis in America. Let me clarify that; I am hearing a lot about how bad the "crisis" is, what I'm not hearing is how we are going to "fix" it. Why is that? Statistics from the NCHC... Forty-seven million Americans, or 16% of our population is uninsured.

The New York Times has a front page story revealing new rules from the Bush Administration that would restrict access to the SCHIP program – which insures children in the absence of private coverage--the program Congressional Democrats are seeking to expand, while Bush is threatening to veto the bills. This is another example of Bush using executive power to kill popular legislation- and he did it when Congress was in recess, natch, in hopes no one would notice, I guess. The new rules could result in making ineligible for coverage some children who are currently covered, while making it impossible for further expansions of the program.

August 1-7 was World Breastfeeding Week. The centerpiece of the global event was an effort to get mothers in 120 countries "to nurse simultaneously on August 8, for a new Guiness World Record. (Check out photos from around the world.) If you decided to celebrate by nursing a child in public, I hope you consulted a law book first.

BlogHer '07 closing keynote speaker Elizabeth Edwards talked about the power of stories in the blogosphere and in public discourse. There are some powerful stories on the BlogHer media rolls that not only demonstrate the need for health-care reform, but also the need to question the way in which health-care stories are framed in public policy and the media.