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Sherry Casey

Sherry Casey attended the Remote Area Medical Expedition in Wise, Va. Coburn Dukehart/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Coburn Dukehart/NPR

Rural Medical Camp Tackles Health Care Gaps

July 27, 2009 • About 2,700 people lined up outside the county fairgrounds in Wise, Va., to receive free vision, dental and medical treatment at a volunteer-run medical camp. Some arrived three days early to make sure they wouldn't be turned away.

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Why This Wisconsin City Is The Best Place To Die

November 16, 2009 • Joe Hauser lives in La Crosse, Wis., where nearly all older adults have signed a directive outlining their end-of life plans. Hauser's kidneys are failing and he doesn't want to live on a machine, but he's keeping his options open. Talking about end-of-life care helps people make informed choices and have their wishes heard, hospital staff says.

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When The Doctor Calls And It's Good News

August 13, 2009 • Across the country, doctors are experimenting with a health care model that puts the focus on individualized, preventive care. In so-called medical homes, doctors are rewarded for using longer visits, phone calls and e-mails to keep patients healthy.

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Kentucky Model Shows Money Alone Won't Fix Health

November 13, 2009 • The people in Southeastern Kentucky have the poorest health in the country. Since many people there already qualify for subsidies, some experts say the current health overhaul initiatives won't change much. Instead, a health care overhaul has to address the roots of the health problems.

Will Insurance Exchange Help Cut Health Costs?

August 12, 2009 • Democrats say a health insurance exchange would help provide affordable insurance options by fostering competition to lower costs. In an exchange, people could choose from a variety of insurance providers and a public plan option.

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Consumers' Guide To The Health Bills

November 19, 2009 • The health care overhaul debate in Congress now centers on two bills: the House measure and the Senate Democrats' version unveiled Wednesday. They differ in important ways. Here are commonly asked questions and answers about the bills.

N.H. Town's Experiment With Universal Health Care NHPR

November 13, 2009 • A tiny New Hampshire town is practicing its own version of universal health care. For more than 80 years, the nurses of Tamworth have provided free care to every resident.

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Health Overhaul Sparks Debate On Future Of CHIP

November 18, 2009 • Some say moving kids from the Children's Health Insurance Program to health exchanges would add stability, but others fear they could lose benefits and their families could face higher co-payments for coverage.

Doc Rejects Idea That Health Spending Is Excessive

November 17, 2009 • Dr. Richard "Buz" Cooper doesn't mince words as he challenges highly-respected research that asserts hospitals and doctors waste up to $700 billion a year on unnecessary testing and treatment. He says the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care doesn't adequately account for the health care needs of poor people.

Medicare Cost-Lowering Experiments Rarely Acted On

November 3, 2009 • Successful demonstration projects are often derailed by objections from hospitals, doctors and other providers — or caught up in political fights as control of Congress shifted.

Health Bills Agree On Enhancing Kid's Dental Care

October 14, 2009 • All of the Democratic health proposals would expand children's dental care. Currently about twice as many children are without dental coverage as those without medical coverage. Still, some insurance experts worry that the legislation might unintentionally reduce adult dental coverage.

San Francisco's Universal Health Care Model

September 15, 2009 • The Healthy San Francisco Plan, the city's public health plan for the uninsured, has many of the elements currently under consideration in Washington, D.C. It was proposed as a stopgap measure until Congress moved ahead with universal coverage. Now, it's being heralded as a public option that works and a model for reform. Sarah Varney reports for member station KQED.

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Pediatrician Describes Efforts At Computerization

September 3, 2009 • One of the big hopes of health care overhaul is that the U.S. will get its health care system computerized. A Maryland pediatrician, who last March described her concerns about computerization, discusses how things are going now that her practice has switched from paper to bits and bytes.

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To Lower Costs, Mass. May Restructure Doctor Pay

August 5, 2009 • Some Massachusetts policymakers want to end a time-honored tradition of paying health care providers a separate fee for every service they provide. They say paying fees for every visit, test and procedure ordered is one of the driving forces behind Massachusetts' health care costs — the highest in the nation.

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What's Canadian Health Care Really Like?

July 27, 2009 • Politicians on both sides of the health care debate cite the Canadian system as evidence. Some call Canadian health care a good example of low cost coverage for all, whereas others say it's socialized medicine, characterized by rationing and waiting periods for treatment.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walks past House staff as she arrives to give a speech on health care.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi quoted the late Sen. Ted Kennedy after the House passed the health care bills late Sunday. "Passing health care is the great unfinished business of our country," she said. "That is, until today." Charles Dharapak/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Charles Dharapak/AP

House Passes Historic Health Care Bill

March 21, 2010 • Capping a year of legislative activity and ending decades of Democratic frustration, the House approves a pair of bills that would extend health care coverage to more than 30 million Americans. One bill goes to Obama's desk, the other heads for a final showdown in the Senate.

Powerful Catholic Quietly Shaping Abortion, Health Bill Debate

March 10, 2010 • As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' point man on abortion, Richard Doerflinger has emerged as a major player in the health care debate, one likely to play a pivotal role in the outcome.

IRS Faces Tough New Duties Under Health Overhaul

January 8, 2010 • The tax agency would be responsible for checking whether individuals get required insurance, distributing billions of dollars in subsidies and collecting new taxes and penalties.

Dems Move To Regulate How Insurers Spend Money

December 21, 2009 • The new Senate health bill released by Majority Leader Reid imposes tougher requirements on insurers to spend most premium revenues on medical care, instead of administrative costs, salaries and profits.

COBRA Help For Laid-Off May Come Before Christmas

December 20, 2009 • The COBRA subsidy extension now pending in Congress could be considered in the Senate this weekend.

Congress and Medicare: Letting Go Is Hard to Do

December 16, 2009 • Democrats' health plan would give agencies more power to test and expand promising approaches to holding down costs, but the question remains: Can lawmakers resist interfering in efforts that could hurt incomes of home-state providers?

Experts Weigh In On Plan To Replace Public Option

December 15, 2009 • Can a spinoff of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program help some of the country's uninsured? Experts evaluate a proposal that the Office of Personnel Management, which manages the FEHBP, oversee national health plans.

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The Two-Way

American Hostage In Yemen Killed In Failed Rescue Attempt

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Asia

Half A Million Flee To Shelters As Super Typhoon Nears Philippines

Hundreds of residents take shelter Friday inside the provincial capitol of Surigao city close to central Philippines in anticipation of typhoon Hagupit which is expected to hit land Saturday afternoon. About a year the country was lashed by Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,300 people dead.

Media

Defining Narrative Questioned In 'Rolling Stone' UVA Rape Story

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