Paradoxically, the Dartmouth research, which confirms some similar studies, shows that patients in high-cost areas are not necessarily getting better care.

In high-cost areas like ours, people of modest means drive because they have to.

But the basic payment to health plans in these high-cost areas would still grow at least 2 percent a year, lawmakers said.

In high-cost areas like New York City, the limit would be raised to $172,675.

As a result, some service members in high-cost areas get too little reimbursement for housing.

Often it is hard to recruit some employees for work in a high-cost area like New York.

"I'd say that in this high-cost area, 90 percent of the time there's an economic need to supplement a pension or Social Security."

The pressure is much worse for companies operating in high-cost areas like the North Sea.

But even before then, the President can ease recruitment problems in high-cost areas.

Everyone living in high-cost areas, not just two-earner couples, is adversely affected by it.