For Consumers Reports and Stories Reforming U.S. Health Care
FOR CONSUMERS
Los Angeles Times: Coverage Denied
Lisa Girion's series of 2007 reports on the insurance industry's practice of rescission -- cancelling a person's health insurance policy for alleged omissions or errors.
Handling Disputes with Your Employer or Private Health Plan
The Kaiser Family Foundation offers step-by-step advice on handling rejected claims or other disputes with your health insurer. Includes state-by-state legal resources for consumers and guidance on understanding your policy.
Patient Money
A weekly how-to column from The New York Times for navigating the health care system.
America's Health Insurance Plans: Consumer Guides
A series of industry-produced fact sheets outlining the types of plans available, as well as information for consumers seeking long-term care, and employers.
Consumer Reports: Health Insurance
Insurance advice from the consumers' magazine: finding individual coverage, choosing a plan, the dangers of "affordable plans" and more.
U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services: Health Insurance
Government information on Medicare, Medicaid, drug coverage and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
FAQs About COBRA Continuation Health Coverage
The Department of Labor's homepage for the COBRA program.
REPORTS AND STORIES
Sick Around the World
Watch FRONTLINE's popular April 2008 report on how five other capitalist democracies deliver health care for all their citizens. Are there lessons in it for us?
Fresh Air: Hidden Costs of Health Care
Uwe Reinhardt, an economist and one of the leading authorities on America's health care system talks with Terry Gross about the costs of our health bureaucracy. (Fresh Air, Mar. 11, 2009)
The Health-Care Crisis Hits Home
Time magazine's Karen Tumulty looks at the crisis facing underinsured Americans through the story of her own brother, who was left high-and-dry with kidney failure by his short-term insurance provider. (March 5, 2009)
PBS NewsHour: The Uninsured in America
Ongoing reports from the NewsHour on the health care crisis and efforts at reform.
Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008
An exhaustive survey of U.S. healthcare that found our system lagging behind. View their interactive feature; download the full report.
Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review
Healthcare expert Bob Laszewski analyzes the competing ideas and proposals in the ongoing policy debate in his frequently updated blog.
The Health Care Blog
A hub of discussion where health care experts comment on the crisis and its proposed solutions.
NPR: Health Care for All
A July 2008 NPR series explaining the success of universal health care systems in Europe. Also see NPR's ongoing healthcare coverage.
Illness and Injury as Contributors to Bankruptcy
This influential 2005 report found that half of the 1,771 U.S. bankruptcy cases surveyed were caused by unmanageable medical costs.
REFORMING U.S. HEALTH CARE
A Lesson on Health Care from Massachusetts
A New York Times article on the state's decision to go for universal coverage first before addressing cost containment -- in contrast to the White House and Congress which are ready to tackle both at once. Rising costs in Massachusetts now threaten the viability of its program. View the graphic comparing what Massachusetts has done to what Obama has proposed. (March 28, 2009)
The Health Care Connection
Financial experts weigh in on the high cost of health care in FRONTLINE's recent report Ten Trillion and Counting.
Universal Health Insurance Coverage or Economic Relief -- A False Choice
This New England Journal of Medicine piece argues that the economic crisis, rather than making universal coverage impossible, has made it more tenable than ever. (The New England Journal of Medicine, Jan. 29, 2009)
Kaiser Family Foundation
The nonprofit think tank has a store of information on coverage and the uninsured.
Getting There from Here
A New Yorker piece that looks at reform strategies around the world and concludes the U.S. has to build on our current system, "however imperfect, unusual, and untidy." (Jan. 26, 2009)
5 Truths About Health Care in America
From TIME magazine, a visual graphic that helps tell the story of the failing U.S. health care system.
AHIP: Health Care Reform
America's Health Insurance Plans represents more than 1,000 member companies that provide health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans. Here is its position on health care reform.