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With many people strapped for cash, barter "exchanges" for health care is providing a temporary safety net of sorts for some workers who have lost their jobs and health coverage. And in some cases, people who have inadequate insurance are using barter to get critical services, such as dental and vision benefits.
Small companies, who traditionally have been wary of government action on health care, are more receptive than in the past to legislation that would make changes in health care. But they still have fundamental disagreements over how aggressive the government should be in imposing new rules and revamping the system.
Some CEOs of America's largest health care providers called Friday for an end to fee-for-service payments under Medicare and incentives to create administrative efficiencies to lower costs to help pay for America's try at health care reform.
As Congress searches for funds to pay for health legislation, flexible spending accounts, which allow consumers to use pre-tax dollars to pay for medical bills, emerge as a possible source. The result is a renewed debate over whether the accounts are a legitimate way to help people cover costs or are a tax shelter for the affluent.
Surgeon and author Atul Gawande's recent article in The New Yorker is generating intense discussion about the cost of medicine and exerting a powerful influence over the health reform debate.
Taxing employee health benefits might fund a health care overhaul, but could sink its political chances.
Lawmakers are considering varied approaches to taxing employer-provided health insurance as a means of paying for an overhaul of the health system, Kaiser Health News reports. Proposals include taxing benefits above a certain premium amount, taxing the benefits only of high-income earners, or combining both approaches.
A Washington state program decides whether to cover new treatments and tests by comparing them with the standard alternatives. If there's no real difference, a panel of medical professionals can pick the least expensive. Decisions are binding for employees insured by the state, workers' compensation claimants and patients in Medicaid, the state-federal program for the poor.
Doctors across the country are reducing their charges and offering payment plans to patients who have lost health insurance or income. This helps people stay well, but it also helps doctors maintain their practices at a time when many financially struggling Americans are deferring care. Patients who don't pay their bills still run the risk of hearing from bill collectors.
This documentary explores the severe challenges cancer patients can face in paying for their health care even when they have private health insurance.
A battle over whether to build a new hospital in northeastern New Jersey illustrates the formidable obstacles confronting President Obama and Congress as they try to mine savings from the $2.5 trillion health care system.
Already, you can hear the opponents of health care reform making a familiar argument: It will mean huge new taxes. Although they're exaggerating--the tax hikes wouldn't be "huge"--you should be willing to pay these new taxes. Happily.
Sixty-year-old Ron Gaston was a shipping and receiving clerk in Wichita, Kansas, who earned about $30,000 a year.
If Congress wants all Americans to get health insurance, it will have to win over people like Gary Cloutier, owner of Cloots Auto Body Shop in Westfield, Mass. He says he just can't afford it.
Young adults who are ousted from their parents' health plans are among the largest and fastest-growing groups of uninsured.
Some people who qualify for the economic stimulus package's COBRA subsidies are still waiting for the "lifeline." Reporter Rick Schmitt, who was laid off in November, writes about the hurdles he has experienced while trying to get the subsidy.
People young and old crowd the hallway outside the locked door of the Arlington Free Clinic. They grip small pieces of paper that will determine whether they get in -- or give up and go home.
The rising costs of care and a failing economy drive more Americans into medical debt.
Bankrupted by nearly $100,000 in medical debt, the Eaker's are now barred from a large clinic.
One woman's medical bills and debt from an emergency hospitalization exceed her annual salary.
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