Any discussion concerning the possible approaches toward improving health care provision to neonates naturally encompasses the improvement of health care provision to their mothers, both before and after delivery. In a larger sense, it encompasses solving the deficiencies in health care provision to the entire population, as babies and their mothers are only two of the overlapping circles in this large Venn diagram.
Thirty-seven million Americans are without health insurance, and therefore frequently without access to necessary care. Simultaneously, we devote a larger portion of our gross domestic product to health care than any other industrialized country, yet we rank 15th in male life expectancy, seventh in female life expectancy, and 19th in infant mortality. There is a national realization, by politicians and the public alike, that health care costs are not only excessively high, but that health care resources are unwisely and inequitably distributed.1
A change in perception