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Research suggests that patients in Canada do better when hospitals spend more on specialized tests and treatments. But the same may not be true in the U.S., where hospitals are already better equipped.

Even as Florida leads the Supreme Court challenge against the federal health law, a private and a public hospital both prepare for an influx of new patients if the law's Medicaid expansion survives.

Despite the federal overhaul of health care, people in the pools are left out because of a wrinkle in legal language. The high-risk pools aren't licensed as insurers in most states, so they're not subject to the federal law.

Until a national health insurance mandate takes effect in 2014, states run stopgap pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions. The federal funds to pay for the coverage are being stretched thin in many states.

New federal guidelines say every child should be screened for high cholesterol once between the ages of 9 and 11 and again between 17 and 21. The testing aims to find kids with extremely high cholesterol caused by a genetic condition. But the testing will find others whose cholesterol may not need treatment.

Students aren't employees, and student health plans are generally individual policies that the students buy on their own, even if they're offered through the college. So mandatory coverage of birth control for students shouldn't be delayed past August, but it could take longer for the faculty, advocates say.

Marilyn Tavenner is the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Matt, assistant administrator at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield, Ky., is her son.

Some brokers and insurers are selling policies approved for the new exchanges along with traditional health coverage. Subsidies will be available only for the plans that got the OK for sale on exchanges. Sorting through the options won't be simple.

Insurance plans that carry higher premiums may be a bargain for consumers with costly health conditions. Lower out-of-pocket costs for some patients can offset the higher price of the coverage over the long haul.

The president offered a fix for people whose insurance coverage has been canceled because it didn't meet the minimum standards of the federal health law. But will insurers follow through? And even if they want to, will state regulators let them?