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Governor Andrew Cuomo says creating a health insurance exchange for New York is a priority for 2012.

Neighborhood pharmacies often compete with large chains, like Duane Reade and Walgreens, for customers, but the rivals have been making common cause in Albany.

Cuts to entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid are continue to be used as bargaining chips as the debate over the budget rages on in Washington. Already some states have begun cutting back their Medicaid programs. 

But a new study out today in the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that people on Medicaid see doctors more regularly, and are more financially stable and less depressed than the uninsured. These findings could be crucial selling points as lawmakers debate the effectiveness versus cost of the health program.

Would you want to know whether or not you'll have Alzheimer's if you had the opportunity? The National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association released new guidelines on the disease, in order to diagnose it earlier in its nascent stages as well as encourage more drug development. Readers and Takeaway listeners shared their own stories about the disease, worrying about the problems associated with early diagnosis. I don't think I would want to know. I sure as hell wouldn't want the insurance companies to know. Early screening and diagnosis sounds like a great way for insurance companies to expand the field of 'pre-existing conditions,'" writes Takeaway listener, Miriam, from Westwood, NJ.

As of January 1st, flexible spending health care accounts will no longer reimburse certain over-the-counter medications -- including sleep aids, aspirin and allergy remedies -- unless they're prescribed by a doctor.  Nancy Metcalf, senior program editor and online columnist at Consumer Reports, talks about this and other impending changes.

Nancy Metcalf, senior editor at Consumer Reports, looks at changes to health care insurance going into effect now as a result of federal legislation.

Jim Knickman, CEO and president of the non-profit New York State Health Foundation, talks about how uninsured New Yorkers can benefit from federal health reform.

A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows that medical students who graduate from Historically Black Colleges and Universities are more likely to practice primary care medicine in low-income communities, the exact area of care most needed in the country today. By 2020, six years after health care overhaul kicks in, there will be 35 million newly insured Americans, but a projected shortage of up to 100,000 primary care doctors. HBCUs like Morehouse, Howard and Meharry Medical College – the top ranked schools in the study – may be helping prevent the problem by training students to work in underserved communities upon graduation.