Redistricting, Hospital Loyalty, Coral Reefs, Living Expenses

Redistricting and SCOTUS (1:04) Democracy is Top of Mind today. In drafting the Constitution of the United States, the founders spent a lot of time wrestling with how to ensure the federal government represents the will of the states and their citizens. The US Supreme Court recently interpreted what’s known as the “Elections Clause” in the Constitution to allow for unelected commissions of citizens to draw the boundaries for congressional districts. Supporters of the ruling say it reduces the amount of partisan game-playing that has always gone into district boundary-drawing. Opponents say the ruling strips away the rightful power of state legislatures to do the work of redistricting by putting it in the hands of citizen commissions. Kelly Patterson is an elections expert and professor of political science here at BYU. Stick to your Hospital (20:19) One byproduct of the intense debate Americans have had over health care reform is our increased awareness of what it costs. It’s increasingly common for patients – particularly those with high-deductible insurance plans – to shop around for the best price on a procedure. At the same time, there’s a trend toward hospitals establishing themselves as expert in certain procedures like heart surgery or knee replacement. What that means is that “medical tourism” is on the rise: people traveling to a hospital far from home for specialized surgical care. What too few people consider in making the choice to travel for surgery is where they’ll turn if complications arise and they’ve already returned home. University of Utah surgery professor Benjamin Brooke’s latest research published in The Lancet finds your chances of surviving surgical complications are better if you go back to the same hospital. . . which could be a problem if that hospital is hundreds of miles away.Dr. Benjamin Brooke is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and lead author of “Readmission destination and risk of mortality after major surgery.” Drones in Coral Re