With the economy forcing layoffs and making employers reluctant to hire new employees, thousands of Americans are losing their employer-sponsored health insurance. Those who look to the market for individual private plans often find co-pays and deductibles are unaffordable, or medical underwriters are unwilling to cover them because of previous or existing medical conditions.

This PBS: Frontline program examines health care in the individual market, and its fundamental problem: the insurance industry is most profitable when only healthy people are covered.