health care

Workers at the eHealth call center outside Sacramento, Calif., get ready to sell health insurance through the marketplaces created under the federal health care law. Sales start Oct. 1.

For-Profit Online Insurance Brokers Gear Up To Sell Obamacare

8:34am September 18, 2013

by Eric Whitney

For online insurance brokers, selling health insurance through the Affordable Care Act presents a new opportunity — and a new competitor. It's unclear who will come out ahead: the businesses, with more experience, or the feds, who won't charge commissions.

Queue Listen Now

Differences in brain chemistry can affect an individual's likelihood of weight gain.

Calling Obesity A Disease May Make It Easier To Get Help

9:04am September 17, 2013

by Patti Neighmond

If obesity were a disease, would you be more likely to seek medical help because insurance would pay for treatment? Or would you feel stigmatized and just give up? That's the debate surrounding increased efforts to classify obesity as a disease.

Queue Listen Now

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell (center) gets a tour of King Cove, Alaska.

Proposed Alaska Road Pits Villagers Against Environmentalists

6:29pm September 13, 2013

by Annie Feidt

A proposed road in Alaska is pitting residents against environmentalists. The people who live in a remote village want better access to an airport with year-round flights to Anchorage for medical emergencies. But the road would cut through a wilderness area, which environmentalists say would set a bad precedent.

Queue Listen Now

Physician Jim Olson cares for children with brain cancer in Seattle. His laboratory studies the gene expression programs controlling neural differentiation, brain tumor genesis and neurodegenerative diseases.

Why Painting Tumors Could Make Brain Surgeons Better

6:58am September 12, 2013

by Joe Palca

Cut a tumor from a child's brain and you may save a life. But surgery can hurt the child if healthy brain cells are removed. A Seattle doctor is working on a substance that might help. It binds tightly to cancer cells and makes them glow, so they're easier to distinguish from healthy tissue.

Queue Listen Now

A sign in a TV ad welcomes Californians to insurance coverage.

Health Insurance Ads Range From Weighty To Whimsical

6:05pm September 10, 2013

by Stephanie O'Neill

States are taking very different marketing tacks to get residents to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. In their own ways, they're trying hard to make insurance appealing to uninsured young people.

Queue Listen Now

Tea Party Won't Let Congress Forget Obamacare Issues

7:08am September 10, 2013

by Don Gonyea

Tea Party Patriots are making a push for Congress to defund the new health care law as part of debates over the budget and funding the federal government. On Capitol Hill Tuesday, Tea Party activists have scheduled an afternoon gathering to rally support for cutting off funding for the health law often referred to as Obamacare.

Queue Listen Now

After A Decade, Congress Moves To Fix Doctors' Medicare Pay

7:59am September 09, 2013

by Julie Rovner

Federal lawmakers have been unable to solve a widely acknowledged problem with the formula used to set the pay for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Now, after a series of temporary patches, a bipartisan solution may be at hand.

Queue Listen Now

The next bed could cost you a lot if the hospital says you're there on observation.

For Hospital Patients, Observation Status Can Prove Costly

9:25am September 05, 2013

by Ina Jaffe

When is an inpatient in the hospital not an inpatient in the hospital? When that patient is on observation status. Patients who are termed on observation can have trouble getting Medicare to pay if they need to go to a nursing home. The practice has sparked lawsuits and legislation.

Queue Listen Now

Pregnant doctors are less likely than other women to deliver their babies via C-section, recent research suggests. Economists say that may be because the physician patients feel more empowered to question the obstetrician.

Money May Be Motivating Doctors To Do More C-Sections

8:57am September 03, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Many obstetricians make more money for C-sections than for vaginal deliveries. In a recent study, these doctors were more likely to perform the costly procedure than doctors paid a flat salary. But when the pregnant women were also physicians, doctors seemed less swayed by financial incentives.

Queue Listen Now

Guilford County's HealthServe Closes Its Doors

12:49pm August 30, 2013

Guilford County's largest comprehensive clinic that serves uninsured residents is closing.

Queue Listen Now