Health & Safety

A sales tax on medical devices was passed to help pay for the Affordable Care Act. Manufacturers have been waging a persistent campaign to get rid of it. Now it's one of the bargaining chips being tossed around in the budget crisis on Capitol Hill.

So far, tobacco companies have paid more than $100 billion to state governments as part of a 25-year, $246 billion settlement. Though the money was meant to be spent on prevention and smoking-related programs, it didn't come with a mandate.

New technologies give parents ways to keep tabs on their kids' driving habits. One such device can alert parents when their children are speeding, when they slam on their brakes, and shows their location. But some experts say parents shouldn't rely too much on technology to keep their teens safe.

Residents in North Carolina have a new resource to help them enroll in the new health insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act.

Some Michigan seniors may be going hungry thanks to the government shutdown. In western Kent County alone, more than 1,300 low-income seniors depend on a government surplus food program. But the USDA has announced that the program is hold until further notice.

Mississippi is one of 34 states that has let the federal government run its health insurance exchange. It has had the same glitches and long wait times as other states. Despite the trouble, people are slowly signing up.

A lack of funding to labs is likely to mean an early death for thousands of mice used in scientific and medical research. The loss of specialty mice, many of which have genes that can cause them to develop versions of human diseases, is especially troubling to scientists — and expensive.

More than 1 million high school boys play football in the U.S. With a growing body of evidence linking the sport with chronic brain injury, some schools are trying to change how teams play and practice — but they have a long way to go.