Consumers

Many organizations believe a free-market system is the best approach to healthcare, but the free market struggles against lagging public policy. Especially as consumers are demanding greater control, advocates point to other industries in which competition has driven down prices and inspired higher quality.

Many organizations believe a free-market system is the best approach to healthcare, but the free market struggles against lagging public policy. Especially as consumers are demanding greater control, advocates point to other industries in which competition has driven down prices and inspired higher quality.

Dallas-Recently released results of a consumer survey show that a majority of Americans believe more emphasis on preventive medicine is a solution to the increasingly evident problems of the nation's healthcare system.

As patients take more ownership of their disease management regimens, hospitals are beginning to re-evaluate their processes-clinically, administratively and culturally.

One of the things I love about living in the suburbs is the close proximity of retail when I need to get my errands done. In a three-mile stretch, I can eat lunch, hit the ATM, buy a gift, fill up my gas tank and replenish my groceries. At the grocery store, I can buy stamps and drop off my dry cleaning, too.

SAN DIEGO-Medical care costs for a family of four has increased 9.6% this year, from $12,214 in 2005 to $13,383 in 2006, according to a recent study.

Gut instinct always used to tell me that America would never go for universal healthcare coverage. In the back of my mind, I kept picturing either a healthcare free-for-all with everyone and their uncle running to the doctor for every little paper cut, or just as bad, everyone and their uncle waiting in line for months to receive their ration of healthcare. You might have envisioned those alarming circumstances, too.

NATIONAL REPORTS-Medical tourism is a fast-growing movement in which American consumers are choosing to travel outside the country for a variety of healthcare procedures and treatments.

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Government officials have been talking about more "transparency" in health information to better inform consumers and practitioners of the cost and quality of hospital and medical services. As a first step, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is disclosing data about what Medicare pays hospitals for 30 common elective procedures and other hospital admissions. Patients now can find out how costs vary across counties in the United States for heart operations, hip and knee replacement, kidney and urinary tract operations, and cardiac defibrillator implants.

Oh, to be in that generation that feels immortal--the generation of college students. Unfortunately, that feeling of immunity often can lead students to some poor decisions when considering healthcare benefits. "It is a healthy population without a perceived need for insurance," says Don Atherton, president of Integrated Benefit Solutions in Houston. "They have to be motivated to seek out coverage when they would rather pay the rent than buy health insurance."

They just don't want to pay for it. And while they'd as soon have their employers pick a plan, they want open access to the doctors their families and friends like.

How voters would spend the federal surplus and what should be done about Medicare.

Most Americans are not familiar with the term "managed care."