Health Insurance

Nearly 1 in 4 tell pollsters they're having a hard time paying for needed prescription medicine; 1 in 3 say they struggled to pay bills from hospitals or doctors last year.

Young adults insured under their parents' plans were shielded from the potentially catastrophic cost of a medical emergency, a review of hospital records found. Researchers say $147 million in hospital bills were charged to insurers rather than the patients in 2011.

Bariatric surgery has a good track record in combating the health risks of obesity. But new health exchanges in Mississippi and other Southern states won't pay for it, even though those states have some of the nation's highest rates of obesity.

Most health plans accept a credit card for the first month's premium and then require customers to pay monthly with a check or an electronic transfer from a bank account. For people without a banking relationship, these transactions can be tricky.

The federal health law allows states to charge smokers up to 50 percent more for a health plan sold through the new exchanges. But a bill moving forward in the California Legislature would prevent that from happening.

Law enforcement agencies are reporting an increase in health insurance scams across the country. Many of the scammers seem to be preying on the public's confusion over the massive changes taking place in the nation's health care system.

Most people don't realize that they don't pay taxes on the value of health benefits from their job. If employer-provided health insurance was taxed in the same way as wages, the federal government could gain $250 billion a year. But it would mean higher taxes for many people.

Economists say that excluding the value of employer-sponsored health insurance from federal taxes makes no sense. But many worry that changing the tax code could mean higher taxes or that employers would push down the value of the health insurance they provide.