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Physicians who pack on the pounds discuss weight loss less frequently with obese patients than doctors who have normal weights, a study finds. Overweight and obese physicians expressed greater confidence in prescribing weight-loss drugs than other doctors.

More than 800,000 visits to hospital emergency rooms in 2009 were for toothaches and other avoidable dental ailments. In hard times, states often cut Medicaid's dental benefits, pushing low-income patients from the dentist's office to the emergency room.

While overall rates have dropped, there is still a major gap separating white, Hispanic and black teenagers. Non-Hispanic white teen pregnancy rates fell by 50 percent from their peak; Hispanic teen pregnancy rates, 37 percent; black teen pregnancy rates, 48 percent.

The long battle for federal approval of Plan B emergency contraception appears to be over. But broader access to the medicine may not reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by much.

Young adults insured under their parents' plans were shielded from the potentially catastrophic cost of a medical emergency, a review of hospital records found. Researchers say $147 million in hospital bills were charged to insurers rather than the patients in 2011.

Immigrants contribute tens of billions of dollars a year more to Medicare than immigrant retirees use in medical services, an analysis finds. Restrictions on immigration could deplete Medicare's finances.

Insurers often don't cover condoms, contraceptive sponges and spermicides unless people get a prescription for them. And that requires thinking ahead.

The medical screening tests offered by churches and other nonprofits may sound like a great idea. But some of the tests, which are performed by for-profit companies, are not recommended by national organizations because they can lead to invasive testing and unnecessary treatment.

For the system to work, however, age won't be as important as how healthy or unhealthy all the new enrollees are. And insurers won't really know that until next year, when claims start rolling in. Sick people are more motivated to sign up early, researchers say.

Insurance enrollment will be a key yardstick for assessing whether the Affordable Care Act is working. Almost as important as the total number of people who get coverage is whether a significant percentage of them are healthy.