Health Care Reform

Notas del editor

1. Confused about health care reform? Join the club Admit it: the health care debate is confusing. Your eyes gloss over at terms like "bending the cost curve" and "health insurance exchange." You're not sure how a public option might be different from a non-profit co-op and why you should even care. You want to know what this plan might mean for you and you want it in simple language that makes sense. You have plenty of company. Nearly all Americans -- 93 percent -- think the reform debate is important and yet more than two thirds -- 67 percent -- say the issue is difficult to understand, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press.   Here at Picture of Health, we don't blame you for your confusion. We, too, are sifting through the massive bills, the endless spin to help boil down the issue to important and interesting nuggets for our readers. And it's not always easy. With that in mind, we want to help. We want to hear from you. What do you want to know about health care reform? What do you worry about most when it comes to health insurance? And if you could ask any question to a member of Congress or a health care expert what might that be? Share here in this space, and we'll work on getting you the answers. 
2. Illegal immigrants and health care reform And you thought the uproar over "death panels" had reached a fever pitch. Well, here's another topic making the heated rounds in the health care reform brawls: Should illegal immigrants be eligible for coverage? First off, none of the plans currently in Congress include illegal immigrants. President Obama and Nancy Pelosi have made a point of underscoring this lately. In fact, up until the town halls got ugly in recent weeks, no one in Congress was even talking about health insurance for illegal immigrants. That hasn't stopped angry opponents from asserting all sorts of false claims -- free insurance to non-citizens, among them. ( PolitiFact debunks a that claim, for the record.) It also hasn't stopped immigrant advocates from asking -- wait a second, what about us? There's a moral obligation to provide access to health coverage to all Americans, regardless of their immigration status, they say.  Any plan that excludes illegal immigrants will fall short, says the advocacy group the National Council of La Raza , considering that illegal immigrants account for 15 percent -- nearly 7 million -- of the nation's 47 million uninsured. But proponents of strict immigration enforcement counter that providing insurance would only encourage more immigrants to flock here illegally. Continue reading "Illegal immigrants and health care reform" »