parsa khan's List: REV Media Mashup: HealthCompare 11.30.09

WASHINGTON — As the Senate begins debate this week on a 10 year, $848 billion health care bill, a few lawmakers are positioned to exert enormous influence over President Obama's top priority as the legislation moves toward its final stages. They include members of both parties, newcomers to Capitol Hill and old hands. Some worry about the government's reach into health care; others are concerned the proposal doesn't go far enough.

As the Senate begins debate this week on health care legislation, the question of whether to keep the bill’s provision for a government-run health insurance plan, known as the public option, will be one of the most contentious. The Democrats still have not nailed down the 60 votes they need to pass the provision. Three conservative Democrats and one independent are threatening to scuttle the entire legislation if the public option, as now written, stays in.

Even with the Medicare hospital trust fund projected to go bust in a few years, slowing the rise in Medicare costs is a political minefield for Congress. One idea that’s gained favor to give lawmakers some political cover is an independent, bipartisan commission that would make recommendations that Congress could approve or reject en masse, without amendments.

Adrienne Schroeder recently moved to Richmond, Va., from Bozeman, Mont., to care for her aging father. Medical expenses — not his, but hers — are a concern. Ms. Schroeder had four pregnancies in the last six years, two ending in miscarriages. She still owes money from those medical costs, despite having had health insurance the whole time.

WASHINGTON | Just before Don Hall and his family left town for Thanksgiving, the laid-off manufacturing supervisor from Castalia, Ohio, wrote a $763.81 check to his health insurance company for his December payment. He had paid $237 in November, but the big increase wasn’t due to rising health costs or a catastrophic illness — and it wasn’t an isolated incident. Hall, 56, is among an estimated 7 million unemployed Americans who get a federal subsidy to help them buy health insurance under legislation known as the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

WASHINGTON -- The young invincibles. That's what the insurance industry calls the 13.7 million Americans younger than 30 who don't have health insurance because, they firmly believe, they just don't need it. In the debate over health care, lawmakers and the health care industry agree that persuading this demographic to jump into the insurance pool is important because they're healthy and don't need costly medical care.

As the health care debate goes round and round in Washington, we are all starting to feel a little helpless. It seems like it's just easier to and wait to see how everything shakes out. But in fact, this is the time of year when you have the chance to make decisions about your health insurance and other benefits. It's open enrollment at many companies, and when you look over your options, you might find you're being asked to pay more out of pocket than ever before.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - November 30, 2009) - eHealthInsurance (NASDAQ: EHTH), the leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses, has been named the best website for health insurance quotes in the December 2009 issue of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine. eHealthInsurance was named to the Best List in the same category in 2007 and 2008.