parsa khan's List: REV Media Mashup: HealthCompare 1.13.2010

People like to live too much. This is my favorite, only half-kidding, response when people ask why health care in America is so expensive.

Reporting from Washington - Facing an electorate more worried about jobs and the economy than healthcare, House and Senate Democrats have stepped up efforts to get a compromise bill to President Obama by the end of the month.

WASHINGTON -- The White House wants to include a national health-insurance exchange in the health bill, which would give House Democrats one of their top remaining demands, according to an official involved in the discussions.

Health Care for America Now, a labor-based advocacy group that fought hard last year for a proposed government-run insurance program, opened several new fronts today against the Senate's $871 billion, 10-year health care bill.

The nation's largest health insurance group confirmed Tuesday that it quietly funneled millions of dollars to an advertising campaign opposing Democratic health-care legislation even as it was publicly pledging support for reform.

High unemployment and cost of group insurance plans have spurred interest in individual health insurance plans.