Getting a Health Policy When You're Already Sick

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/health/04patient.html?ref=health

This article is ultimately a series of tips on dealing with health insurance, but it has the great news tie-in that Congress may make it impossible for the health insurance industry to charge higher premiums or deny coverage to people with health problems. The article leads with that, but then explains that it may be months before this is settled. A great quote from Karen Pollitz helps shift the article from the news aspect to guidance about insurance.

Insurance is not the most interesting thing in the world to read about, so it was a good choice to format the article the way it is, with bold headings for each section. Konrad chose to address "you" in the article, but I think it works to keep readers engaged and make it feel like an advice column more than a list of policies. Konrad uses very simple terms ("In reality, most insurers deny individual coverage to sick people.") and keeps our attention with quotes that sound like people actually said them. We get even more of the personal aspect when we hear the story of a woman who went through a struggle with obtaining health insurance. More advice is given about what to do if you're in her situation.

The article ends with one last warning about temporary insurance policies, a popular remedy that could lead to big problems. This article could have been painful to read, but by making it newsworthy, breaking it up visually, and keeping the human element in the story at all times, it held my attention.