Primary care was supposed to be the centerpiece of President Obama's health care reform bill — the way the country was to reduce the amount it spends on medicine. So why is his administration cutting primary health care allotments by 27 percent?

Life expectancy in the U.S. is falling behind most other industrialized counties. And in a large number of rural counties, women are living shorter lives than did rural women of earlier generations. What is driving our longevity to decline?

On January 1, federal health care rates for doctors will be cut 29.5% unless Congress acts. The cuts will be harder on primary care physicians — and that means they will cut more deeply in rural communities, which are more dependent on primary care providers.