Medicine & Health

In his new book, Cheating Death: The Doctors and Medical Miracles that are Saving Lives Against All Odds, CNN's chief medical correspondent reveals the breakthroughs that can save even those closest to death.

Journalist Maggie Mahar, author of Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Healthcare Costs So Much, has studied the economics of U.S. health care and drawn a few conclusions. She weighs in on the current debate on a health-care system overhaul.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that free markets alone can't fix the health care system. Heritage Foundation Vice President Stuart Butler advocates a restructured system based on consumer choice.

The New Republic senior editor Jonathan Cohn discusses power players of health care reform, including the insurance lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, the American Medical Association and Congress.

In "The Cost Conundrum," his latest article for The New Yorker, staff writer Dr. Atul Gawande reports from McAllen, Texas, a border-town with the dubious distinction of spending more per person on health care than almost any other market in America.

Author, doctor and bioethicist Robert Martensen has treated an estimated 75,000 patients in the emergency room and the ICU. In his new book, A Life Worth Living Martensen presents case studies that illustrate the problems and complexities of American health care system

When Karen Tumulty's brother Patrick was diagnosed with kidney disease, the Time magazine correspondent thought her 15 years of experience covering health policy would enable her to solve his insurance problems. It was tougher than she thought.

Economist Uwe Reinhardt discusses the hidden costs of the health-care bureaucracy.

Bioethicist Arthur Caplan discusses the health care challenges facing the Obama administration. A professor of Bioethics at The University of Pennsylvania, Caplan was recently named one of the ten most influential people in science by Discover Magazine.

Peanuts and corn dogs may spell summer for some, but for others, they mean allergy misery. Dr. Hugh Sampson, president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, talks to Terry Gross about foods to avoid.