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Insurance brokers are waging a campaign to exclude the sales commissions insurers pay them from the companies' administrative expenses. Though that battle may sound arcane, there's big money at stake for consumers.

With employers looking to hold the line on health costs and a persistent shortfall in public information about physician quality, choosing the right doctor is no easy task for most consumers.

Liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders and conservative Sen. Rand Paul used a hearing on emergency room use to engage in an unusual debate about whether health care is a right.

Some employers have concluded that employees enrolled in high-deductible health plans that are linked to a health savings account can't be given the same price break on workplace clinic services that their coworkers in regular PPOs and HMOs receive.

For an extra fee, you can get a doctor or nurse practitioner to make a house call to check on a sick kid. The services can save a trip to the emergency room for problems that crop up after hours.

Even if a hospital is in your health plan's network, some doctors who work there may not be. That discrepancy can lead to surprising out-of-network charges. But appealing those charges can often get health plans to reduce the bills.

Consumers in nine states expect to receive millions in rebates from their health insurers on this year's premiums because insurers did not hit a spending target for medical care. But consumer advocates say most insurers should be able to meet the spending rule.

A hospital that may charge hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat a dying patient generally won't charge the family a penny to do an autopsy to figure out what caused their patient's death.

Under new rules just issued by the federal government, insurers seeking rate increases of 10 percent or more will face more scrutiny starting in September. The change comes as insurers have reported solid profits.

Members of health care sharing ministries pay monthly shares and pool their money to cover each others' expenses. Under the new health law, ministry members are exempt from the mandate to buy individual coverage. But they may not be covered for expensive pre-existing conditions.