Cost-Containment

The share of U.S. health-care spending devoted to administrative costs, including billing, is roughly three times what it is in other affluent countries.

While the share of Americans without health insurance is near historic lows, the cost for many people to buy a health plan—if they don't get it from a job or the government—is higher than ever.

Maryland is on the verge of approving a plan that would impose a new, one-year state tax on insurance companies.

Without having done much yet, Amazon.com Inc. is already transforming U.S. health care -- and not necessarily for the better.

The spending bill was the insurance industry's last chance to bring down premiums before plans have to make decisions on where to sell and how to price coverage next year.

Eighty percent of people said they think drug prices are too high, and both Democrats and Republicans agreed the industry has too much sway over lawmakers.