Julie Appleby

A CDC advisory panel concluded the nasal spray vaccine is so ineffective that it shouldn't be used by anyone during the 2016-2017 flu season. Until 2015, the spray was the top choice for kids.

A federal task force expanded the list of recommended colorectal cancer screening tests. Here's the lowdown on the tests and how they might be covered now and in the future by health insurance.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission told Congress that rising drug costs helped push Medicare Part D spending up nearly 60 percent between 2007 and 2014. There are options to contain spending.

The goal is to rein in drug price increases while increasing the chance that patients will get the medication that works best for them. It's an idea that's getting increasing private-sector traction.

More women with breast cancer are choosing to have mastectomies over breast-sparing procedures. And nearly half of them don't spend a single night in the hospital but go home the same day, according to a federal analysis.

It's the latest study to show that treatment for breast cancer is shifting ...

Citing flexibility, many consumers choose health plans that provide some coverage outside the insurer's network. Traditionally, the plans not only paid a portion of the bill for doctors and hospitals not in the core plan, but also set an annual cap on how much policyholders paid toward out-of-network care.

Not ...

Consumers seeking health policies with the most freedom in choosing doctors and hospitals are finding far fewer of those plans on the insurance marketplaces. And the premiums are rising faster than for other types of coverage.

The plans, usually known as preferred provider organizations or PPOs, pay for a portion ...

Cancer patients shopping on federal and state insurance marketplaces often find it difficult to determine whether their drugs are covered and how much they will pay for them, the advocacy arm of the American Cancer Society says in a report that also calls on regulators to restrict how ...

Four companies running urgent care centers in New York have agreed to disclose more fully which insurance plans they accept, following an inquiry by the state's attorney general that found unclear or incomplete information on their websites that could result in larger-than-expected bills for consumers.

The agreements mark the first ...

As health insurance open season heats up for businesses, many employees will discover that participating in their company's wellness program includes rolling up their sleeves for blood tests.

Across the country, half of large employers offering health benefits have wellness programs that ask workers to submit to medical tests, ...

If your company hasn't launched a wellness program, this might be the year.

As benefits enrollment for 2016 approaches, more employers than ever are expected to nudge workers toward plans that screen them for risks, monitor their activity and encourage them to take the right pills, food and exercise.

This ...

Before they were removed following an outcry over privacy, backscatter X-ray security scanners at airports also raised worries among some travelers and scientists about exposure to potentially harmful radiation.

After all, the machines use ionizing radiation to produce those very graphic body images. Now, with the Transportation Security Administration considering ...

Almost every American will experience an error in diagnosis at some point in life. But the problem has taken a back seat to other patient safety concerns, an influential panel said in a report released Tuesday.

The report from a blue-ribbon panel of the Institute of Medicine called ...

Christine White pays $300 a year more for her health care because she refused to join her former employer's wellness program, which would have required that she fill out a health questionnaire and join activities like Weight Watchers.

"If I didn't have the money ... I'd have to" participate, says ...

The case, King Vs. Bruwell, challenges the federal exchange that has helped more than 9 million people get low cost health insurance.

Expensive new drugs for hepatitis C may work better than older treatments, but their high cost undermines their value, a panel of experts said Monday during a daylong forum in San Francisco.

"The price makes it very hard for the health care system," said Steve Pearson, who oversaw the meeting ...

President Barack Obama announced yesterday insurance companies can reinstate healthcare plans that were cancelled, or maintain existing plans that would otherwise have been cancelled ...

The latest issue in the ACA's rocky debut: more and more individuals are receiving letters from their insurers warning that their policy will be cancelled at the end of this year, des...

Health insurers are ending policies for what could turn out to be millions of Americans. The moves have rattled consumers and stoked new debate about the health care law.

No one knows for sure right now how many of the estimated 14 million people who buy their own insurance are ...

They've got a few weeks.

But if federal officials can't get the new online insurance marketplace running smoothly by mid-November, the problems plaguing the three-week-old website could become a far bigger threat to the success of the health law, hampering enrollment and fueling opponents' calls to delay implementation, analysts say.

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