Kenneth Polonsky, MD, writes an editorial in the Chicago Tribune arguing that patients will lose if Washington raises the debt ceiling in a deal that cuts funding to teaching hospitals. He is the dean of the Pritzker School of Medicine and of biological sciences at the University of Chicago....

Jai Raman, MD, professor of surgery, discusses the heart transplant he performed on Glenn Bovard of Valparaiso, Indiana. Bovard's insurance company wouldn't pay for the surgery until they were forced to lift the lifetime cap under health care reform. He got a good heart and has a much longer life...

David Song, chief of plastic and reconstructive surgery, dispels a few popular myths about breast reconstruction after cancer. While the shape of the breasts is the last thing on a woman's mind when she's diagnosed with cancer, insurance companies will pay for breast reconstruction.