Susan explains how she met Rachell Hall post-mastectomy to receive her nipple tattoos.

As the Democratic National Convention wraps up in Denver and the Republican National Convention is just around the corner, both parties are trying to build up momentum for their candidates as we head into the election.

Outside the spectacle of the conventions, however, Americans will need to evaluate each candidate based on the issues and one of the top issues is health care.

By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) -- One out of every three working-age, uninsured Americans suffers from a chronic illness and isn't getting the medical care they need, a new report shows.

Although the study didn't specifically look at the health consequences of lack of insurance and lack of access to medical care, it's reasonable to assume that these factors would lead to various medical complications, said the authors of a study published in the Aug. 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

We were out with friends recently who were talking about their company's health program that tests their employees’ health and fitness levels and charges their monthly health insurance contributions accordingly. This means the fitter you are, the less you pay every month. The couple work for the same company and the husband thinks the program is great – the wife does not. Both maintain a very healthy lifestyle, exercise regularly and eat well. He thinks some people need a big push to force them into living well and this is one way to do it.

WASHINGTON - Investing just $10 per person — roughly the price of a six-pack of beer and some chips — could greatly fuel community programs that get couch potatoes moving, prevent smoking and improve nutrition, researchers say.

How much health does $10 a person buy? Invest that every year, and within five years the nation could cut health care costs by more than $16 billion annually, concludes a new analysis by the nonprofit Trust for America's Health and a team of public-health research groups.

THURSDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- Access to health care in the United States continues to elude more and more Americans, a new survey shows.

What's more, since the first "scorecard" was done in 2006, the nation's health-care system hasn't improved overall, even though the United States spends more on medical care than any other industrialized nation.

These are some of the findings in the Commonwealth Fund report called Why Not The Best? Results From The National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2008.

Private auditing firms have gotten back more than $690 million in overcharges paid by Medicare, and under a new program that's irking health care "providers," the companies that identify the overpayments are getting a portion of the monies they recover, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The program has identified about $1.03 billion in "improper" payments over three years, mostly in New York, California and Florida, the newspaper said. About $992.7 million was in overpayments.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer.

"He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30.

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I was searching for the text of a BBC America World News Report that aired tonight, when I came across this story about the Oregon healthcare lottery (BBC News, March, 2008). There were no search results on empowHer.com, so I'm sharing this interesting news with you.

In my work as an elder care advocate I am often asked to recommend a physician and frequently hear the challenges families face with finding the right physician for their needs. Until my late twenties I did not have a primary care physician (PCP) who I saw on a regular basis. I religiously kept my well women visits with my Ob-Gyn, but never with a PCP. I was one of those women who never got sick, lived at the gym, and had a youthful metabolism that allowed me to love my skinny black dress and ice cream. Why did I need a primary care physician?