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The Democrats final health bill negotiated by the House, Senate and White House and released Thursday contains a scaled-back tax on high-cost insurance policies. Here is a brief guide to these types of insurance plans.
Congress has extended the COBRA subsidy periods again and again, helping many laid-off workers keep health insurance but sowing confusion as well.
Gold Dust Saloon owner Ruth McDonald uses an innovative "three share" model to provide health coverage for her workers. The restaurant is one of 30 employers in a Colorado program that provides low-cost coverage to small businesses.
Workers at a Portland, Ore., steel mill soon will be able to pick a new type of health insurance: one with financial rewards to use proven treatments and disincentives to use less-effective surgeries and diagnostic tests.
One family in Tampa is trapped in an expensive insurance policy because it covers their 19-year-old daughter, who has a serious digestive disease and has been through several surgeries.
If the Democrats get their way, Blue Cross companies will have to change their business model, so that they act a bit more like the Blue Cross plans of old--the ones that helped schoolteachers, not stockholders.
Under the health bills being debated in Congress, young adults would be required to buy insurance - but they could buy low-cost "catastrophic" plans, requiring high deductibles. That's igniting a fierce debate whether young adults - sometimes known as the "young invincibles" - would benefit from such plans.
There are exempt insurance practices that, at least in theory and under certain conditions, could help insurers defend and expand their market share against competitors. But the exemption simply does not shield the most straightforward kinds of conduct by which companies get big.
Many patients seeking mental health treatments, such as Denise Camp of Baltimore, have been forced to pick up a bigger share of the cost than they do with other medical bills. But a law that went into effect Jan. 1 prohibits such double standards.
While Democrats and Republicans are at odds over much of health reform, they do agree that insurers should not be allowed to retroactively cancel health insurance policies. Capitol Hill watchers say the practice could be outlawed within a few months.
The White House transcript of yesterday's remarks from the health care summit convened by President Barack Obama.
A health care summit between President Obama, Republicans and Democrats ended with the president laying out some areas of consensus between the two parties but many disagreements remain.
The White House released the first set of this morning's remarks from the health care summit convened by President Barack Obama.
With comprehensive health care legislation foundering, House Democrats are turning to a narrower piece of legislation they hope has populist appeal: repealing the antitrust exemption for health and medical liability insurers. Policy makers disagree on the effect the repeal would have.
Three veteran state insurance commissioners said they'd welcome federal advisory help, but draw the line at giving the government authority over rates, a power they say states should retain exclusively.
The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, several senators who now oppose an individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it. In fact, says Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea.
With health care legislation stalled, the GOP is touting its plan which includes allowing Americans to buy health coverage from another state. Democrats include a version in their bills. Critics say this would erode consumer protections.
With health care legislation stalled, the GOP is touting its plan which includes allowing Americans to buy health coverage from another state. Democrats include a version in their bills. Critics say this would erode consumer protections.
Some lawmakers are considering a scaled-back health bill in place of the comprehensive legislation now stalled in Congress. But there's debate about whether popular insurance reforms, such as requiring insurers to accept applicants with health problems, can be successful without an unpopular individual insurance mandate.
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