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Surveys show that an increasing number of employers are providing employees with financial incentives to stay healthy. Many employers now contribute to employee health savings accounts, but only if employees make sure to take care of their health.

Essential benefit requirements apply mainly to individual and small group plans. The federal requirements also affect benefits provided to people newly eligible for Medicaid coverage. Now, for instance, we know that insurers won't be allowed to can't charge consumers a copay for a screening colonoscopy, even if a polyp is removed.

Nearly three-quarters of states get poor grades when it comes to laws about the making available prices for health care. Most consumers are unaware of the tremendous variation in price for health care services.

Law enforcement agencies are reporting an increase in health insurance scams across the country. Many of the scammers seem to be preying on the public's confusion over the massive changes taking place in the nation's health care system.

Patients feel little personal responsibility for keeping health costs lower, a study found. They were also unlikely to accept a less expensive treatment option, even if it was nearly as effective as a more expensive choice.

Many long-term care policies sold 30 years ago didn't specifically cover assisted living facilities. Policyholders rely on clauses that say new kinds of care will be covered when it becomes available, but the ultimate decision rests with insurers.

Patients with the blood disorder can experience severe pain. But when they arrive at the emergency room seeking help, health care personnel often think their requests for narcotics are a sign of addiction. Nursing professor Paula Tanabe is helping to illuminate the problem and improve treatment.

In some cases, "observation" may be no more than a billing designation that allows hospitals to move patients out of crowded emergency departments. Hospitals also may use them to avoid potential insurance reimbursement problems.

Even as deaths in acute-care hospitals declined in recent years, the use of intensive care units in the last month of life increased. There has been greater use of hospice care, but much of it was for three days or less at the very end of life, a study finds.

The federal law overhauling health care requires that contraceptives be made available to insured women without any out-of-pocket costs to them. Many family planning clinics aren't yet set up to accommodate women under those terms.