Health Insurance

Median household incomes have increased for the first time since 2007 — rising by 5.2 percent. The poverty rate has declined, and more people have health insurance, the Census Bureau says.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has on his desk a bill that aims to protect patients' pocketbooks when they're billed for treatment by an out-of-network provider at an in-network facility.

Finding a provider of health care in your network is often a challenge because the insurer's directory isn't up to date. A California law aims to improve directory accuracy.

Repeated extensions of drug patents help fend off competitors, researchers say, keeping prices high. And the fact that Medicare and Medicaid can't negotiate for discounts doesn't help, either.

Competition on some exchanges will be diminished next year when three of the nation's largest health insurers drop out. Still, most marketplace consumers won't see any ill effects from the moves.

A July letter from Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini to the Justice Department said the company would pull back from health insurance exchanges if the government opposed the company's merger with Humana.

It can be hard to figure out if genetic tests for breast and ovarian cancer and other services important to women are covered, because health plans often don't list them in the summary of benefits.

Evidence shows dominant insurers hold down hospital prices. Big insurers seeking to get bigger want to take that idea to the extreme. Hospitals and doctors object.