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In an effort to cut medical costs health insurance companies may be going to the source: your doctor.

At least, in the case of UnitedHealthCare this appears to be the case. As today's article in the New York Times says, in light of rising costs and a new public awareness of health care, insurance companies like United health are looking to minimize time spent in hospitals.

Specifically, United health insurance is locked in a financial dispute with Continuum Health Partners, a "consortium of five New York hospitals," including Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

United has demanded that hospitals notify the insurance company within 24 hours after a patient's admission, or lose reimbursements by up to one half.

Continuum Health argues that this is just one way for health insurance companies to overburden hospitals with administrative tasks, and minimize their own costs by draining hospital funding.

All of this is happening at the same time that health care legislation seems to have hit a major stumbling block, with Democrats losing their filibuster-proof majority.

But even if only some tenets of the legislation are passed, it's likely that health insurance companies stand to lose a lot of money. One key term of the bill involves forcing insurance companies to cover all applicants, regardless of any pre-existing conditions.

The money they lose will need to be made up somehow, and if The Times is correct, it could be made up in their intervention between patients and their doctors.

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Plans to significantly revise individual health insurance in America faced a potentially killing blow this week with the loss of the Democratic seat in Massachusetts.

However, as MSNBC makes clear in its article on health care legislation, the current version of the bill actually faces several hurdles that will need to be overcome if individual health insurance is ever to be affordable and available to all Americans.

The problem, according to the article, is that the twists and turns of politics have led us to a bill that doesn't much resemble the original plan President Obama put forward when he was running for the presidency.

Now, problems include funding: cutting back on Medicare and the so-called "Cadillac Tax" have not been well received.

There's also the issue of the already employed. Those who don't need individual health insurance aren't concerned with how hard it is to get, and don't want to lose the coverage they already have.

Finally, with the loss of the public plan there won't be as much incentive for health insurance companies to lower premiums.

Optimists are suggesting that even with the loss in Massachusetts some form of health care legislation will pass. However, what it will look like, and whether or not it will help anyone, remains to be seen.

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This week's health care news comes with threats of a lawsuit, should Nebraska health insurance enjoy what appears to be a kickback written into legislation.

According to The Washington Times, South Carolina's Republican Attorney General intends to do just that in response to what he calls "The Cornhusker Kickback."

This kickback takes the form of extra padding for Nebraska health insurance in the form of Medicaid services. If it passes, Nebraska residents would be exempt from paying for expanded Medicaid services.

Why this "kickback" was written into at least one version of the health care bill, and whether or not it will pass, has not been addressed by Congressional members.

"Conservative-leaning" opponents argue that the provision was included in order to win the vote of Senator Nelson from Nebraska.

However, Nelson himself has responded that his state is in such poor fiscal condition that help would be needed for Nebraska health insurance to keep it from bankrupting the state.

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The latest snag in health care legislation - the "excise tax" - has been seen by opponents as an assault upon family health insurance, and specifically, on the middle class.

As a result, President Obama has taken a more proactive role in the negotiations for health care, and according to The New York Times, is willing to renegotiate family health insurance plans so as to "make this work for working families."

The article sums up the dispute regarding the tax, and in particular addresses the powerful opposition that has been mounted by labor leaders and unions.

While the President reportedly views the tax as a major means of financing health care, labor leaders claim that many middle class men and women, some part of the union and some not, chose to enjoy better health insurance plans instead of raises and bonuses.

A tax on those plans, many of which are family health insurance plans, would impact the middle class disproportionately.

The unions favor a different tax upon the wealthy instead, one that is designed for couples making more than $1 million a year.

Unfortunately it isn't clear whether this alternate tax would provide as much money, but with unions threatening to withdraw their support of the Democratic President, it's likely that he'll make some type of change to appease them.

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Now that the public option seems to have been permanently nixed from health care legislation, the individual health insurance mandate is meeting with opposition on all sides of the political spectrum.

The mandate, which is present in both of the bills that have been approved so far by Congress, would require that all Americans purchase insurance, including those who don't have jobs. They would be expected to purchase individual health insurance to comply, or pay a fine.

But at what cost?

As it says in the article about health care at the LA Times, several factors in the current bill(s) may make it less expensive to pay the fine instead of coverage.

The issue is, now that there isn't a public option to provide competition, and without any type of price controls to limit the rising costs of health care, it may be cheaper to pay the $750 yearly fine than to purchase individual health insurance.

And with little information out there regarding the proposed health care cooperatives, or the subsidies that would be available to those who don't make enough to purchase their own coverage, opponents to the mandates are gaining more traction.