Prescription for Change Blog
Heard health reform will destroy Medicare or bust our budget? Think we should 'slow down?' Get the facts about these and other myths that the opposition is using to scare Americans away from real change. Read more »
Insurers blame their shockingly high premium increases on rising medical costs, but they aren’t telling us the whole story. Insurance companies engage in some ruthless practices that "justify" rate increases far larger than medical inflation. Read more »
Health insurance hasn't proven to be the best market for head to head competition. Rather than improving price and service, companies began to increase profits by picking the healthy and shedding the sick. Read more »
Today, loving families struggling to pay big medical bills sometimes have to consider divorce as the only means to cover a sick child or spouse. Read more »
States can’t even keep health insurance rates down when the insurance company is sitting on piles and piles of surplus cash (and investments). Read more »
Those who say we should scrap the health reform bill and start over have yet to say what would happen differently the next time. It took a year to get to this point--with efforts to reach compromises large and small dating back to this time last year. Read more »
Rather than try and insure everyone, perhaps we should just try and insure the sick people. The problem is, states have been trying that idea for years and it's time we learn from failure. Read more »
In Sunday's New York Times, Newt Gingrich announced that tort reform would save the health care system $600 billion a year--a breathtaking number, but unfounded. Read more »
As Washington tries to come together on a health reform plan, opponents are still throwing out the same old ‘solutions’ that they claim will lower costs and get more folks health coverage. The only problem is, they don’t. Read more »
California insurance regulators, federal agency heads and Congress are all responding to Anthem's huge rate increases with, well, saber rattling. Because the rate increase is probably perfectly legal under existing insurance law--a law that works great for insurance companies and not so great for people. That's why so many millions of Americans desperately need Congress to finish and pass health reform. Read more »
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 »
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