health care policy

More than a dozen hospitals across Great Britain declared "major incidents" this past week, with non-emergency operations cancelled and extra staff called in to cope with overcrowded emergency rooms. Still, the backlog in waiting rooms keeps growing.

The horror stories just keep coming in: long lines outside emergency departments — just to get into the waiting room — and of hospitals locking their doors to keep new arrivals away.

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Courage.

About Leana Wen's TED Talk

Doctors in the U.S. don't have to tell patients about conflicts of interest. When physician Leana Wen asked her fellow doctors to open up, the reaction she got was frightening.

About Leana Wen

Obamacare 2.0 is underway with another round of open enrollments that continues until the middle of February. Colorado is one state that’s seen a decline in the number of uninsured since the federal Affordable Care Act went into effect nearly a year ago.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, John Daley of Colorado Public Radio explains that the push is on to sign up even more people.

The second enrollment period at HealthCare.gov began Saturday, and so far, it's gone much more smoothly than the start of last year's first open enrollment, which was full of glitches and saw only a handful of people able to enroll the first day.

The Department of Health and Human Services said that on Saturday alone, more than 100,000 people applied for healthcare on the site, and more than half a million people logged on.

The House voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would address widespread problems with health care for veterans.

The vote in favor of the $16.3 billion package was 420 to 5.

The problems veterans have had obtaining care has drawn national attention in recent weeks. A White House investigation into problems at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals found "significant and chronic systemic failures."