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It's the first disclosure of prices in the nation's most populous state for individual health insurance that complies with the Affordable Care Act. The menu of affordable options surprised some consumer advocates and analysts who had been expecting premiums to be much higher.

Instead of waiting for individual hospitals to apply to build proton centers, a health planning council solicited proposals, promising to favor collaborative approaches. A five-hospital group that teamed with a private company got the go-ahead to build in New York City.

The Affordable Care Act sets annual limits on the amount that people will owe out of pocket for prescription drugs starting in 2014. But sick people in some plans won't get relief until the following year because the federal government is giving certain health plans extra time to comply.

Last year, Congress and President Obama passed a law providing insurance coverage for abortion for military women in the case of rape or incest. Will the Peace Corps inspire a similar truce on the same issue?

If they want to, veterans can buy insurance coverage on the new state-based marketplaces to supplement their coverage from the Veterans Health Administration system.

Most health plans accept a credit card for the first month's premium and then require customers to pay monthly with a check or an electronic transfer from a bank account. For people without a banking relationship, these transactions can be tricky.

A voluntary approach to flu vaccination of health care workers has fallen short. To protect patients, vaccination should be mandatory, consumer and business groups said in Washington. They back a requirement for annual vaccination of all health workers with only limited exemptions.

Oregon created a simple two-page form that has helped people exert control over their care at the end of life. A statewide database that contains the information is providing insight into what people prefer.

Women spend $1 billion more annually on their health premiums than they would if they were men. But under the recently upheld health law, insurers won't be allowed to charge higher rates based on gender starting in 2014.

Criminals who defraud public health care programs to the tune of billions of dollars a year are now up against sophisticated computer systems designed to catch them. But the new efforts may yield far more leads than the current team of investigators and analysts can handle.