Oxygen Suppliers Fight to Keep a Medicare Boon
By CHARLES DUHIGG, New York Times
Medicare spends billions of dollars each year on products and services that are available at far lower prices.

There Are Alternatives: Insuring to Bridge the Gap or Opting Out
By STEPHANIE SAUL, New York Times
One way for Medicare Part D enrollees to deal with the “doughnut hole” is to insure themselves against it. Another way is to simply not get involved with Part D in the first place.

Strategies to Avoid Medicare’s Big Hole
By STEPHANIE SAUL, New York Times
A gap in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage is helping to curb growth in the nation’s drug spending by pushing people toward low-cost generic drugs.

Hands to Hold When Health Care Becomes a Maze
By ALINA TUGEND, New York Times
When confronting confusing health insurance statements and a maze of policies, talking to a live person can be the best remedy.

Democrats Push Republicans to Buck Bush on Child Health Bill
By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ and ROBERT PEAR, New York Times
Republicans in New York and New Jersey are feeling intense pressure to vote to override President Bush’s veto of a bill expanding a popular health insurance program for children.

Minnesota Limit on Gifts to Doctors May Catch On
By GARDINER HARRIS, New York Times
Two years after Minnesota officials forbade drug makers to give doctors more than $50 worth of food or other gifts per year, drug company sales representatives there are having a far harder time marketing to doctors.

Sliming Graeme Frost
By PAUL KRUGMAN, Op-Ed, New York Times
The Graeme Frost case is a perfect illustration of the right-wing political machine at work and its reliance on character assassination.

McCain to Unveil Health Plan Focusing on Quality of Care
By MARC SANTORA, New York Times
Senator John McCain will propose overhauling the nation’s health care system by offering incentives for both patients and doctors.

Medicare Audits Show Problems in Private Plans
By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times
Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victimized by private insurers that run the system’s new drug benefit program, according to a review of federal audits.

A Battle Foreshadowing a Larger Health Care War
By ROBERT PEAR, New York Times
The fight over child health care shows how hard it will be for Democrats to sell Republicans on universal insurance.