Welcome to a new blog from Consumers Union, the non-profit publisher of Consumer Reports. We’re excited to add Your Health Dollar to our family of blogs for consumers. We know there are a lot of other blogs out there vying for your attention, not to mention all the tweets and texts, IMs and emails. So here’s why Your Health Dollar will be important to you.

For the past year, all eyes have been on Washington D.C. as the march toward comprehensive, national healthcare reform has progressed. CU has updates on the reform effort as well as all the resources you need to understand the reform proposals at www.prescriptionforchange.org.

Outside of Washington, however, life goes on for millions of consumers who face higher healthcare costs, loss of insurance, and other struggles to get medical care.  At CU, we’ve also kept our eyes on what’s happening on the ground in the states, and in healthcare markets across the country. From Oregon to Maine, we’ve seen insurers battle regulators for less regulation and higher profits. We’ve looked at the finances of our so-called non-profit insurers to see if they are truly serving their missions to provide affordable, quality coverage (answer: not so much). And we’ve observed the tug-o-war between providers and insurers as hospitals and doctors demand higher reimbursements and insurers experiment with new payment models.

On this blog, we’ll bring you the details on these issues and more. Our goal is to follow the money and bring more transparency to the healthcare marketplace. Many of the corporations that collect, distribute, invest, or otherwise spend your healthcare dollars are huge hospital and insurance interests, with various lines of business and a multitude of subsidiaries. They must be held accountable, not just to their boards of directors or shareholders, but to every American.

We’ll also keep tabs on our government regulators to show you whether they are acting in your interests. We’ll discuss policy developments and industry trends as they arise. We’ll tell you how you can help us push for transparency and accountability. And, of course, we want your input so feel free to post your comments. Let us know what you’re thinking about Your Health Dollar!