Health Care Reform | featured news

Health care legislation taking shape in the House carries a price tag of at least $1 trillion over a decade, significantly higher than the target President Obama has set ...

In shift, many lawmakers now expect final bill will include form of government-run insurance for people without employer-based health coverage.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has told colleagues that he may include a government-run health insurance plan in a health care bill he will soon take to the Senate floor.

The drug and insurance industries have dramatically amped up their efforts to lobby Congress, spending millions over a three-month ...

On the heels of an insurance company’s turning down a child for being too large, now a different company has denied coverage for Colorado toddler Aislin Bates, 2, because at 22 pounds she does not meet height and weight standards. Her doctor and parents say the girl is healthy and just petite, and is growing normally for her size.

Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws, according to congressional officials. It's the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health care industry.

If enacted, the switch would mean greater federal regulation for an industry that recently has stepped up its criticism of portions of a health care bill moving toward the Senate floor.

Their plan is estimated below Obama's $900-billion price tag. House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their healthcare bill below President Obama's price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market.

The increase means that monthly premiums would top $100 for the first time — a stark indication of the rise in costs that is driving the debate on health care reform.

As Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials work to shape health care bills that will go to the House and Senate floors, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and now wins clear majority support from the public.

Measures pending in Congress push insurers to keep down costs and cover all regardless of health. Despite growing frustration with the way health insurers deny medical treatments, major healthcare bills pending in Congress would give patients little new power to challenge those sometimes life-and-death decisions.