Insurance Reform Watch was developed in response to the insurance industry's opposition to what is commonly referred to as "health care reform" but is more accurately described as "insurance reform."

About This Site

• About Dr. Barrett
• Mission Statement

Basic Information

• Key Elements of Health Care Reform (posted 9/20/09)
• Glossary of Common Insurance Terms (posted 8/4/09)

Basic Problems in the U.S. Marketplace

• Why Insurance Reform Is Desperately Needed (updated 9/8/09)
• Our Health-Care System Needs Healing (posted 9/4/09)
• Coverage Denied: How the Current Health Insurance System Leaves Millions Behind (posted 8/14/09)
• 2010 Health Interview Survey Finds 50 Million Uninsured (posted 8/10)
• Another Insurance Insider Speaks Out (posted 9/18/09)
• How the U.S. Health Care System Compares with Programs Run by Other Governments (posted 8/8/09)
• Excess Deaths Linked to Lack of Health Insurance (posted 9/18/09)
• Why Malpractice Reform Is Needed to Protect Doctors and Medical Care (posted 3/21/11)
• FBI Overview of Health Care Fraud (posted 4/13/11)
• Schemes to Defraud Medicare, Medicaid, and Private Health Insurers (posted 8/27/11)
• Uncovering Medicare Waste, Fraud, and Abuse (posted 9/6/12)

Frequently Asked Questions

• Would National Health Insurance Be "Socialized Medicine"?
• Should Managed Care Cover "Alternative Medicine?

Consumer Protection News and Advice

• Unethical Actions by the Insurance Industry (posted 8/4/09)
• Insurance Fraud and Abuse (link to Quackwatch)
• GAO Warns against Unlicensed Health Insurance Plans (posted 8/6/09)
• Why "Dread Disease" Policies Should Be Avoided (posted 8/6/09)
• Be Wary of Health Care Credit Cards (posted 8/13/09)
• Congressional Budget Office Analysis of New Law
• Allstate Files $2 Million Insurance Fraud Case (posted 3/16/12)

Current Laws and Regulations

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2010) (posted 9/7/11)
• Timetable and major provisions of the Affordable Care Act (link to another site)
• Employer's Guide to Group Health Continuation Coverage under COBRA (posted 9/7/11)
• Medicare Covered Services (posted 3/12/13)
• Medicare Hospice Benefits (posted 11/2/15)
• Repealing the Affordable Care Act without a Replacement: The Risks to American Health Care (posted 1/6/17)

Congressional Hearings

• Deceptive Insurance Industry Practices: Are Consumers Getting what They Paid For? [Part I] [Part II]
• Between You and Your Doctor: the Bureaucracy of Private Health Insurance. [Part I] [Part II]
• Health Care Reform in a Struggling Economy: What's on the Horizon for Small Business?
• The Economic Case for Health Care Reform

Proposals for Reform

• Bernie Sanders proposes "Medicare for All"
• Pathways to Lower Drug Costs
• Key Issues in Analyzing Major Health Insurance Proposals (posted 8/24/11)
• Proposal of the Physicians' Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance (posted 8/7/09)
• Seven Ways to Reduce Unnecessary Medical Costs—Right Now! (posted 8/12/09)

Opposition to Reform

• Bogus Arguments against Insurance Reform (to be posted)
• A Close Look at Rick Scott and His Conservatives for Patients' Rights Propaganda Machine (posted 8/10/09)
• Healthcare and Insurance Campaign Contributions to
  North Carolina Members of Congress (posted 8/13/09)

Online Citizen Action

• Open Letter Urging President Obama to Support Single-Payer Health Care
• Support President Obama's Drive for Health Care Reform
• Participate in AARP's Health Action Now

Links to Recommended Sites

• AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel
• Center for Media and Democracy
• Coalition against Insurance Fraud
• The Commonwealth Fund
• HCA Watch: Background on HCA/Columbia Prosecution
• FactCheck.org
• FAIRHealth Educational Site (Medical and dental fee database)
• Health Care Fact Check
• Health Care for All NC
• Health Care Reform Myths
• HealthReform.gov
• Kaiser Family Foundation
• Managed Care Digest
• Physicians for a National Health Care Program
• PolitiFact.com
• Stop Medicare Fraud
• True Cost of Health-Care
• White House Office of Health Reform
• Wikipedia: Universal Health Care Systems in Other Countries

Insurance Reform Watch abides by the HONcode principles of the Health On the Net Foundation. Verify here.

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