Prescription for Change Blog
Would a few simple changes to the way health insurance works fix our health care system? Consumer Reports is looking at the ideas now circulating. See what our investigations come up with. Read more »
If so, relax. You’re probably all worked up about four of the myths polluting this debate. Read more »
Health insurance must be affordable for American families if we are all to buy it. So how do we get there? Read more »
You probably haven’t heard much about the proposed ‘insurance exchange’ in the health reform bills. It doesn’t make sexy fodder for political talk shows. But it very well could be one of the most important things Congress does to get health reform right – and the Senate and House bills take different approaches to the exchange. How they’re combined in the final bill could make all the difference to health reform’s success. Read more »
The next few weeks we’ll see furious work in Washington on a final health reform bill, as both House and Senate leaders attempt to merge their respective bills into one measure that gives all Americans access to affordable, reliable health coverage. Read more »
As Consumer Reports senior editor Nancy Metcalf points out, losing your health coverage in middle-age can be a real disaster because most people in "mid-life" have some kind of pre-existing condition that makes insurance companies shun them. Or if they are lucky enough to get coverage, the costs of the policies are simply outrageous. Read more »
This weekend the Senate will vote to begin debate on its health reform bill -- needing 60 votes just to begin talking about the issue on the floor and allowing amendments. Read more »
Any proposal that addresses one-fifth of our economy, and deals with an issue as important to Americans as their health care, deserves our careful reading and intense scrutiny. With that firmly in mind, and with our decades of experience analyzing incremental health reforms at the state and federal levels, Consumers Union supports H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. We believe this bill contains workable solutions to the critical problem that so many Americans face right now – namely, the inability to afford dependable, quality health care. To read about our reasons why, click here. Read more »
American women, it’s time to wake up to what the health insurance industry has been doing to you -- discriminating against you simply because you're a woman. This dirty little business practice, called "gender rating" by the insurance industry, allows insurers to charge women more than men for simply having reproductive parts. And health reform bills would put a stop to it. Read more »
Mark Gendernalik just wishes he could focus on being a dad instead of having to constantly fight insurance company red tape to get the medical care his daughter needs. Read more »
As President Obama addresses Congress about his health care goals, many Americans still have questions about what it will mean to them. What if I already have decent coverage through my job? What if I can't get insurance now? What will happen to my Medicare? And how much will this cost us? Read more »
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has released a district-by-district analysis of the health reform bill and its impact on every House district in the country. Look at your home town! Read more »
We've heard a lot this past month from health reform opponents that our health care system is just fine. If you believe that, then take a minute and listen to the story of Catherine Howard so you can get a better understanding of what insurance companies really are doing -- and how much you are at risk. Read more »
Affordability Credits are available to lower the cost of coverage purchased through the exchange. Information about a family's income and size is used to determine whether the family qualifies for the credits and if so, what type of contribution the family is expected to make. Read more »
Jonathon Cohn writes about some of the pitfalls and problems that health reformers have been trying to avoid. “But making sure people can keep their insurance turns out to be harder than it sounds. It's been an ongoing preoccupation for staff working on reform, both in the administration and on Capitol Hill.” Read more »
It may be 1,000 pages long, but it can be summed up in 1,000 words. Read this insightful, even-handed summary of the health reform debate by the Washington Post's Alec MacGillis to help make sense of what this is all about. It succintly lays out the proposals, and the pros and cons. As he says, "health-care reform is not that hard to understand, and those who tell you otherwise most likely have an ulterior motive." Read more »
The Obama Administration is using social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote a webpage called Health Insurance Reform: Reality Check that aims to debunk some of the myths and rumors swirling around the healthcare debate. Read more »
You may have heard some factually incorrect things about the health reform proposal. Here's our analysis. Read more »
The University of Pennsylvania's independent Annenburg Public Policy Center is fact checking the advertisements for and against health reform. Their site, factcheck.org, examines some of the more outrageous claims being made in TV ads, ferreting out falsehoods and revealing misinformation and misleading claims in the ads. Read more »
Congress was urged to slow down and engage in some thoughtful debate about health reform during August recess. It did slow down, but we haven't exactly had the thoughtful debate yet. As the media and blogosphere reports, it's almost impossible right now for our leaders to engage in a calm, intelligent conversation with Americans about one of the most important pieces of legislation that will go through Congress this year. Read more »
On Tuesday, Obama held a meeting with key Democratic Senators and they “agreed they should give Republicans only until mid-September to get behind the plan.” Americans while slowing the Read more »
With legislators returning to their home districts for the August recess, “the White House hopes to build as much momentum as possible,” for health care reform. Read more »
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If you’re getting older, or you’ve got an aging parent, you’ve no doubt heard the latest misinformation campaign about health reform – it will kill old people. Or depending on the source of the rumor, it will use tax dollars to euthanize the elderly, counsel them on suicide, or flat-out deny them care until they die. Read more »
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