(WASHINGTON, D.C.) A new report was released today by the Center for American Progress and the Leonard D. Schaeffer Center at the University of Southern California showing that health care reform will create up to 4 million more jobs than would be created if reform measures are not passed.

It’s raining cats and dogs in San Diego animal shelters and medical affordability is a growing reason why.

Those who have pets — 1.2 million in San Diego County, Lt. Dan DeSousa of the San Diego Department of Animal Services estimates — know that veterinary bills don’t come cheap. As the squeeze of the economy gets tighter, pet care for Americans gets further and further out of reach, and ultimately, it will be the animals who pay the price.

Julie Tyson Westcott was 31 and training for her first marathon with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training when she was diagnosed with Leukemia. She started a blog called Cures Rock! to write about her treatments and her fight with cancer.

“Chemo is like a marathon; like an endurance sport,” Westcott said. “Initially the blog was a way for me to inspire people; to share and talk from a positive approach about what I was going through. And a way to let people know, I know they’re doing their own endurance races with their treatments.”

With the U.S. Senate on the verge of passing health care legislation by Christmas — issues like Medicare and the public option are taking center stage. But buried in the bill is a provision that would affect home care for America’s aging population.

The Senate health care bill, if passed and signed by President Obama, would cut reimbursements for senior home care by 17 percent — cuts San Diego may not be able to afford with such a rapidly aging population.