As the U.S. Senate struggles to produce health-care reform legislation that can win the votes of 60 members, cost issues rise to the forefront of the debate. Poet Carolyn Forché’s experience suggests that universal access to health care is not only the right thing to do morally but financially as well.

Former President Jimmy Carter touched off a media firestorm recently by suggesting that racism explained the extreme rancor of some criticism of President Obama’s health reform plan. The resulting debate, however, didn’t begin to reach the nuance of how attitudes about race are experienced in this country, particularly by black women, as the author explains.

At this year’s annual Omega women’s conference in Rhinebeck, New York, participants reached across generations to empower themselves and their communities. The authors spoke to two of the younger “t...

As Congress continues to grapple with health care reform this week, heads of state meet at a UN summit to face the challenge of climate change in preparation for a December conference in Copenhagen. Given the dire health consequences of global warming noted by the author, success at the UN could rein in health care costs in the long run, while taking a giant step toward a healthier world.