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Many people who are unable to care for themselves prefer help from their families. But long-term care insurance policies don't typically cover compensation of family members for the work.

Aetna, Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealthcare and WellPoint are looking to band together and increase their influence on the implementation of policy and overhaul of the nation's health system.

Supporters of the product say they help quit smoking. Opponents maintain it's a gateway to cigarettes. Both groups are making their case to the Food and Drug Administration, which is studying the flavored melt-in-your-mouth products.

That decision, in one of the regulations for implementing the health overhaul, is sure to disappoint insurance agents, as you might have guessed. But it's more important than you might have imagined. The ruling makes it more likely that insurers will have to pay rebates to customers.

Efforts to cut federal spending are targeting a program that gives higher Medicare reimbursements to small hospitals in rural areas. Some observers say the program has gotten so big, it's propping up hospitals that are neither critical to a community nor isolated.

Adolescents covered by Medicaid may have an easier time getting weight-loss surgery paid for. The surgery costs upwards of $20,000 and it's not entirely clear which adolescents would benefit most from it.

A federal fund that has given employers a financial incentive to keep providing health insurance coverage for early retirees is winding down at year's end. Did it work?

Marilyn Tavenner, a nurse, is set to succeed Dr. Donald M. Berwick as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Tavenner is the agency's principal deputy administrator and will serve on an acting basis as administrator during the confirmation process.

Patients, who've generally been schooled in their doctors' passive "don't call us, we'll call you" approach to medical care, need to snap out of it and start taking an active role in making sure test results get communicated both to them and to other doctors when necessary.

A two-year federal investigation found children in foster care — even infants — were prescribed psychotropic drugs at rates 2.7 to 4.5 times higher than non-foster children. Often, those prescriptions were at much higher doses.