Use our guide to get the most health care for your dollar.

Health care is costly in the best of times. Even the luckiest among us, those who have a comprehensive insurance plan through an employer or Medicare, might have to stretch to afford premiums, deductibles, and co-pays. Add a recession that's thrown millions out of work and trashed the retirement savings of still more millions, and you have the makings of a full-blown crisis.

Here's our guide to getting the most care for your dollar, depending on where in our mazelike system you and your loved ones are.