In terms of the political path our country is now on, at the forefront of American minds is the new healthcare reform bill. The bill that the House of Representatives revealed this week seems to have one major driving force and, for once, it is not the almighty pharmaceutical company. There has been a lot of talk recently about insurance premiums and how gender plays a role in the amount of premium charged, so it is not surprising that women are playing a very large role in the health bill reform issue. The newly revealed bill has many sections that deal with pregnancy services, abortion coverage and exclusions for those who have pre-existing conditions (with mention of women who have been subject to domestic violence).

The bill pushes that even the most basic benefits package offered by insurance companies should include maternity coverage. It also states that abortions will not be covered by public funding with the exception of cases that involve incest, rape or the mother being at risk of dying due to complications from the pregnancy. This focus on women does not mean that male issues are not being addressed. There are many healthcare activists working around the clock to make sure their issues get addressed. Two examples include Cecile Richards (president of Planned Parenthood) who wants an increase in reproductive health services and Joe Theismann (former quarterback for the Washington redskins) who wants to increase screenings and awareness of abdominal aortic aneurysms.

Richards has been highly successful in lobbying for health reform with over 50,000 letters and e-mails sent to members of Congress and over 150 opinion editorials published in newspapers across the nation. Richards is not displeased about all the news coverage on women’s health issues. Richards states, “What we’re really worried about now is a nursing shortage if health reform passes. We’re having this problem at our family planning clinics in Massachusetts. We can’t seem to keep up with the demand.” Thus, it must have pleased Richards that the recently introduced healthcare bill has sections detailing coverage for nurses. One option discussed was an option to offer coverage for pregnant women and women who have recently given birth for nursing services offered at home. There was also a section detailing coverage for exclusive birth centers which would have staffs comprised of certified nurse-midwives. In addition, another issue high on Planned Parenthood’s list of reproductive services reform is teenage pregnancy which was also highlighted in the new health reform bill.

Theismann, on the other hand, wishes to raise awareness for abdominal aortic aneurysms. These are blood-filled sacs in the abdomen’s main artery that kill up to 9,000 men each year. Theismann was inspired to push for this reform after his father was diagnosed with one of these aneurysms and, fortunately, received treatment for it. If one of these aneurysms ruptures, only 10 to 25 percent of victims will survive it; however, there is a very simple ultrasound screening that can easily detect an aneurysm of this type and potentially save thousands of lives each year. Luckily, the new health reform bill is pushing for Medicare patients to be allowed these screenings.

In a disappointing twist of events, updated test results from a recent and what-was-thought-to-be promising AIDS vaccine experiment show that the vaccine is less effective than originally thought and that this effectiveness may tend to decrease over an extended period of time. Nonetheless, the results from this experimental study have not hindered the excitement that AIDS researchers and scientists have been feeling because all the samples of blood used in this trial may be just what they need to create a new vaccine that proves more successful.

The data stemming from this recent trial show that this type of vaccine may be better suited for those in the general public, as opposed to those who have an increased risk of contracting the virus, including homosexual men and drug users. This study was the first of its kind in that it was tested mainly amongst heterosexual people with an average risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Colonel Jerome Kim, a United States Army doctor who helped lead the study, states, “This study becomes a landmark. You can put it on a map and begin to figure out where you go from here.” In a recent issued report, researchers attached to this trial informed the public that a combination of two vaccines was reducing the risk of somebody contracting HIV by over 31% according to a Thai study that had over 16,000 voluntary participants.

In an update to these findings, results show that the vaccine is perhaps not as beneficial as previously thought. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a sponsor of the study, feels this may be attributed to the fact that only a few of the participants (125 people) contracted HIV, which is 10 times less than other HIV vaccine trials. To the critics of this study, Dr. Alan Bernstein, the executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, states, “The bottom line is that those results are real. We, for the first time, have evidence of protection, and the nitty gritty (arguments) to me don’t matter a damn.” He has the support of many other researchers, including Dr. Lawrence Corey from the University of Washington, who states, “It’s a consistent story. There seems to be some effect. And I think it is an important study. It redirects the field to look at a different kind of vaccine and different kinds of immune responses.”

The combination vaccine trial was conducted by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health and had over 16,000 participants, both male and female, between the ages of 18 to 30. All of the participants tested HIV-negative and had an average risk of contracting the virus. Half of the participants received the combination vaccine and the other half received dummy shots. Results showed a 31% lower risk of contracting HIV in the group that had received the vaccine. Discussing the results of the study, Dr. Raphael Dolin from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, states, “Perhaps the requirements for protection against transmission in low-risk heterosexual persons are considerably different or less stringent.”

I think we can admit we’ve all been there…you are lying in bed thinking about how wonderful it will be to finally get a good night’s rest. As your eyes begin to shut and your mind begins its drift to la-la land, you are startled awake by a hand creeping across your boob or a fuzzy leg being thrown over your mid-section. It’s not on your mind, but your partner is sure in the mood for some heat between the sheets. Some of us simply succumb knowing it will be easier to give in than stir the emotional pot while others of us have perfected the “Oh, don’t even touch me right now; you know I’ve got to wake up early tomorrow” scowl. In fact, OnePoll.com recently compiled a list of the best excuses for not having sex and, believe it or not, the old headache excuse is not at the top of the list.

Of those who were brave enough to participate in this study, twenty percent of them admitted to consistently making excuses in order to not have sex. We’ve all heard the old standup routine where the disgruntled and sexually frustrated husband asks “What’s the best way to never have sex again? Get married.” There is a hint, if not a huge fraction, of truth in that. As couples migrate from the courting stage to the long-term relationship to marriage and kids, it seems more often than not that sex gets tossed to the back burner. The OnePoll.com survey had approximately 4,000 British participants and in a surprising twist, males were actually more likely to throw out an excuse to not have sex than women.

The number one excuse for turning down sex for both males and females was the old standby of “I’m too tired.” There were several other excuses that ranked high on the list including, “I’m angry with you,” “I’ve got to get up early in the morning,” “I’m preoccupied with work,” “I’m not in the mood,” “I can hear one of the children” and, my vote for the weirdest high ranked excuse, “You need a shower.” Fifty percent of men suggested that being too tired was their main reason for postponing sex while 75% of women just did not feel in the mood for it.

I can imagine we’ve all been on both sides of the coin in some of these scenarios and can understand that a whole range of emotions gets tapped in situation like this. Guilt for not wanting to have sex when your partner does or disappointment when you’re in the mood and your partner simply turns their back to you and falls asleep. However, bear in mind that there are plenty of reasons when an excuse not to have sex is completely warranted. Some valid excuses include not having a condom and/or forgetting to take a birth control pill, drinking too much and not having your senses intact, having a sexually transmitted disease that you do not want to transmit/contract to/from your potential partner or not really liking/loving the person you are potentially going to have sex with.