These are such First World problems, but there's a certain claustrophobia to New York. You don't escape in the East Village, but it at least feels full of camaraderie and youth - or full of camaraderie and youth in an East Village that is as full of Chase banks and Starbucks as the Upper West Side, or anywhere else in Manhattan.

I spent a lot of time in a small town in France, growing up.

I played the piano growing up and then stopped for 10 or 12 years.

My dad's French, and I spent my summers in France growing up. So I speak French fluently, and obviously, I speak English because I was raised in New York, and I grew up here.

I think the idea of participating in your own health care and being responsible to the extent you can be of your own health, it seems to me a lot like self-reliance and individual responsibility. This cuts through the partisan divide.

Unfortunately, we are still in an age where individuals may be discriminated against because of health conditions.

Our biggest achievement was health-sector reform. The success was in making sure that primary health care was the center of gravity in our health system.

The health care system is really designed to reward you for being unhealthy. If you are a healthy person and work hard to be healthy, there are no benefits.