Congress's chief budget scorekeeper cast a new cloud over Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation's health-care system, telling lawmakers Thursday that the main proposals being considered would fail to contain costs -- one of the primary goals -- and could actually worsen the problem of rapidly escalating medical spending.

The nation's largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues, according to an analysis of lobbying disclosures and other records.

A single-payer healthcare system would more effectively control costs than any other plan that Congress is considering as it moves toward a reform bill. And by controlling costs, existing resources could be allocated more equitably, especially for the benefit of women.

As Obama and congressional Democrats work to hammer out landmark health-care legislation, they face increasingly noisy protests from those on the left who complain that a national program like those in Europe has been excluded from the debate.

Got to hand it Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat. He knows how to follow orders. He’s in charge of health care reform in the Senate. And he’s following the precise orders of the health insurance industry.

“AARP is the enemy,” Hochfeld says bluntly. “They spend a lot of money on public relations trying to look like they are the good guys. They are part of a PR coalition – Divided We Fail. And yet they lobby and lobby and lobby and lobby in every state. In Oregon two years ago they threatened that if Medicare were put on the table in health care reform, our local legislators would lose their jobs.”

When it comes to health-care reform in America, there is a relatively simple solution that will cover everyone's basic health care, control costs and save businesses, most people and the country a lot of money.

The United States lags behind other industrialized nations in the quality of its healthcare despite having the costliest system in the world, according to a report released on Thursday.

Uninsured Americans and those in a government health program for the poor are far more likely to have advanced diseases when diagnosed with cancer than those with private coverage, researchers said on Sunday.

A small but growing number of American families beset by major medical problems are learning the hard way that simply having health insurance is sometimes not enough.

France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.

The case for providing health coverage for all Americans got even more compelling in the past week when two new studies presented the most comprehensive evidence yet that lack of health insurance is seriously harmful to a patient’s health.

Kids in the United States aren't getting the health care they need, especially in the area of prevention, a new study shows.

More than one-third of the U.S. population under the age of 65 went without health insurance for all or part of the last two years...

Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.