Even cancer patients with health insurance can face steep copayments for drugs, a sizable share of hospital bills and significant incidental expenses. So wouldn't it make sense for doctors and patients to talk about financial issues up front?

Writer and breast cancer survivor Peggy Orenstein talks with David Greene about actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer. The cancer risk for most women is much lower than Jolie's.

The National Transportation Safety Board wants the blood alcohol limit to be lowered from 0.08 to 0.05, in line with the limits in countries such as Denmark, the Philippines and Switzerland. But it may be tough sell in states across the country.

The two makers of HPV vaccines have agreed to lower the prices for their vaccines to less than $5 a shot for low-income countries. The cheaper vaccine may make it easier to vaccinate girls in places where the risk of death from cervical cancer is greatest.

In a first, Medicare has revealed how much individual hospitals bill and how much they are paid for common treatments. The charges vary widely. And while Medicare and private insurers generally pay far less than what hospitals request, the uninsured may pay something closer to these sticker prices.

Men still need a prescription for the diamond-shaped blue pills. But instead of going to the pharmacy in person, or taking their chances buying from an online pharmacy of unknown repute, men will be able to buy Viagra from the maker of the drug itself and have it shipped to their homes.

The American Urological Association released new guidelines that, if they're heeded, would dramatically reduce the ranks of men who would be candidates for PSA testing. The prostate-specific antigen test can catch cancer early, but it frequently gives false alarms.

For quite a while, the annual number of fatalities from auto accidents has been a kind of shorthand for health issues that are big and important. Suicides now exceed deaths from crashes. And the middle-aged have seen the biggest increase in suicide rates.

Concerns about the flu have intensified as the cases and fatalities mount. Transmission of the virus between birds and humans appears to happen fairly easily. It's unclear whether it can spread from one person to another.

Tylenol may relieve more than physical pain; it may dull existential aches, too. Researchers say their work is consistent with a growing body of research that suggests the brain processes physical and emotional pain in similar ways.

Ricin is a naturally occurring toxin that's found in castor beans. Castor-oil plants, the source of beans, are popular with gardeners. You can get sick by eating beans. But purified ricin can be made pretty easily and used for no-good.

More women than men said they felt very tired or exhausted most days or every day when government surveyors asked them. Overall, about 15 percent of women said they were worn out compared with 10 percent of the men.

A prominent male chin, thought to be a marker for virility, is one of the characteristics that's part of the so-called universal facial attractiveness hypothesis. But a look at chins from around the world raises doubts.

The ruling could end a more than decade-long battle that has spanned two administrations. The decision overturns a controversial 2011 action by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius overruling the Food and Drug Administration's decision to allow sale of morning-after pill without a prescription or regard for a person's age.

The Food and Drug Administration says it can't keep up with all the dietary supplements that claim to enhance sexual performance. Many have been found to contain potentially harmful ingredients, so the agency is warning people to beware of the entire bunch.

For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics says it favors civil marriage for same-gender couples. The leading group of pediatricians in the U.S. also supports parents' full rights to adopt or provide foster care regardless of their sexual orientation.

Parents frequently fret about risks to their daughters from vaccination against cervical cancer, even though the vaccines are safe. Parents who don't plan to have their daughter get the shots often say they don't know enough about the vaccine or that their child doesn't need it anyway.

People who stuck with diets rich in olive oil and nuts had about a 30 percent lower risk of experiencing a major cardiovascular problem, such as a heart attack or stroke, than people who followed a low-fat diet.

There were more than 9,000 whooping cough cases in California in 2010, a 60-year high. There has been a resurgence of the disease across the country lately. Why? People going without vaccination is one factor. Another may lie in the vaccines themselves.

When Sandy slammed into New York City, one of Manhattan's biggest hospitals buckled. After the power went out in Lower Manhattan, New York University Langone Medical Center's backup power generators failed, too, and more than 200 patients had to be evacuated.