Given all the attention and emotion paid to the topic of the health reform law’s individual mandate, a new piece of research from the Urban Institute is particularly striking.

The study — The Individual Mandate in Perspective — shows that only 6% of the U.S. population would be subject to penalties if they failed to purchase health insurance. Put another way, 94% of Americans would not be required to newly buy health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.

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Readers had a lot to say about a recent post on my WebMD Health Insurance Navigator blog. In it, I talk about the growing trend of high-deductible health plans and two studies that highlight their impact on people’s behavior when it comes time to get care.

Read about it here.

Many readers of my WebMD Health Insurance Navigator blog had something to say about a post I wrote just after Christmas: Is it a Good Idea to Have Access to Your Doctor’s Notes?

The story outlines a recent study indicating that patients and doctors have different views about whether patients should be able to see medical notes placed in their chart by their physician. In short, patients want access to the notes while doctors seem more reluctant to show them.

What jumped out at me among the many comments left by readers was just how many people found glaring errors in their medical records. Their doctors, in some cases, included notes that in no way resembled their medical situation or the events patients recall having taken place in the exam room.

That begs the question: What do you do if you find an error or other information with which you adamantly disagree in your medical files?

Read more to find out.

The details of our health plan’s policies can be confusing. As a result, many of us carry misperceptions about our coverage and the type of services we’re entitled to that can end up wreaking havoc on our finances.

Here, at the Health Insurance Navigator, are three commonly held myths about health insurance that you would be well served to ditch.

More than 23 million people in the United States are diabetic and require on-going health care to manage their disease. According to the American Diabetes Association, the average annual cost of medical care for people with diabetes is $6,649.

Those details prompted this Health Insurance Navigator blog, which explores a handful of options for how to pay for diabetes-related health care.

You may not have control over high medical costs, but when it comes to medical bills you can make a huge difference in how much you pay for your care. The key is to know when and where to take action.

Here are four mistakes that can take a big financial toll when it comes to medical bills.

I recently appeared on The Renal Support Network’s Kidney Talk podcast to discuss common medical billing errors and what consumers can do about them. You can listen to the discussion with Lori Hartwell at RSN’s website.

Here we are at the end of another year. If you’re among those who make New Year’s resolutions related to your health, here’s an incentive to stick with your 2012 plans: Poor health habits are costing you money.

In this last Health Insurance Navigator blog post of 2011, I discuss the cost of poor health habits and ways to save on insurance premiums.

Bill Heisel is a veteran health journalist who writes a wonderful blog at USC’s Reporting on Health.  On his Antidote blog, Bill has been talking lately about how in a changing media market,  journalists need to find ways to reinvent themselves.

He was kind enough to ask if I’d share my experiences in reinventing my own career and how I created a life as an independent journalist. You can read his two-part Q & A with me at Antidote here and here.

This year, nearly 20.5 million people with Medicare coverage took advantage of the free preventive services available to them as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

You can read more about it, plus tips for Medicare Open Enrollment at the Health Insurance Navigator.