Month: November 2014

The Obama administration's overcounting of the number of people enrolled in Affordable Care Act health plans reveals how all the glitches in the government's computer system have yet to be worked out. Instead of the 7.3 million people that the government reported were...

A judge on Monday ordered a Brooklyn hospital to keep a 2-year-old girl on life support for at least another day, as her parents argue over whether her organs should be donated.Yet whether the child's organs will ultimately go to other children, as her mother wants,...

There’s no doubt that knee replacements are increasingly popular. More than 600,000 such surgeries were performed in 2012, compared with about 250,000 just 15 years ago. But some new studies suggest that people may be electing to have the procedure prematurely...

Medicare has signaled a willingness to consider paying doctors who counsel patients on end-of-life decisions, though it's putting the issue on hold for now. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rejected a request from the American Medical Association to...

Researchers have figured out what’s behind a vicious cycle: why scratching an itch makes you itch even more.A new study with mice finds that scratching causes the brain to release serotonin, which intensifies the itch sensation. The same is believed to occur in...

Closing what many see as a loophole that could trap millions of people in sub-standard insurance, the Obama administration said Tuesday that large-employer medical plans lacking hospital coverage will not qualify under the Affordable Care Act’s toughest standard. It...