The Narrative Matters section of Health Affairs publishes personal essays (literary nonfiction) based on firsthand encounters that have a health policy aspect. These "policy narratives" take a story (or anecdote) and grow it beyond one person to include a big-picture view of the subject. The purpose of the Narrative Matters section is to put a human face on the health policy discussions in the other parts of Health Affairs.

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November 2009

	Dying Of A Treatable Disease Working in Botswana reveals to a young American doctor the strengths and weakness of medicine in both countries--and shapes a set of difficult issues. Carla C. Keirns, November 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

September 2009

	Shingles Does It After a doctor-professor with a bad case of shingles arrives in the ER, he discovers what it's like to be a patient in pain during this age of aggressive medicine. Jack Coulehan, September 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	Adventures In (Health-Insurance-Claim) Wonderland A medical student interpreting her own ER bill figures out insurance claim codes and errors--but then what? Amanda J. Redig, September 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

July 2009

	Narrative Matters Turns Ten Ellen Ficklen, July 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	On The Southern Front Caring for elderly parents across borders and cultures and languages. Julia Alvarez, July 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	In The Midst Of Sickness In the story of AIDS in Botswana, there are themes of human kindness and of people and nations not walking away from suffering. Alexander McCall Smith, July 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	A Touch Of Sense Patients and physicians connect through touch and trust. Abraham Verghese, July 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	Still Closing The Gap Years after the Civil Rights movement, how is it that health care in the United States remains separate and lethally unequal? Fitzhugh Mullan, July 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

May 2009

	Unrecognized Vulnerabilities America's "famously normal" television journalist describes her journey to bipolar disorder. Jane Pauley, May 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	Coming Out Of The Shadows Those of us with mental illnesses need to stop being ashamed of who we are--and remind the rest of you that our disabling illnesses can be treated. Fred Frese, May 1, 2009 [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

March 2009

	Serious Side Effects A doctor works on--and worries about--a way to care for needy patients who use free drug samples from pharmaceutical companies. Jonathan Han, March 1, 2009 [ Audio Podcast ] [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	Buying Lunch...And What Else? A medical student who believes that free lunches and free drug samples provided by the pharmaceutical industry are far from free finds her "no-free-lunch" resolve being tested. Melinda Morton, March 1, 2009 [ Listen to the Author ] [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

January 2009

	Love In The Time Of Organ Transplants When post-transplant medication costs more than $1,000 a month, how much of a girlfriend's appeal might be because she comes from a country that provides universal health care? Eric Frederick Trump, January 1, 2009 [ Audio Podcast ] [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]

	Shuffling In Grandmother’s Footsteps Two generations later, a cure for Parkinson's disease is still said to be "probably ten years away." Phyllis Richman, January 1, 2009 [ Audio Podcast ] [ Full Text ] [ PDF ] [Reprints & Permissions]