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Unlike Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and other conservative states in the South, Mississippi is well on its way to having an insurance exchange ready for operation by the 2014 deadline laid out by the health overhaul law.

Midwives specifically trained in delivery outside hospitals can practice legally in 27 states. In the remaining states, mothers-to-be planning for a home birth will probably be attended by a certified nurse-midwife.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Many health insurance policies for part-time workers will end next year and won't be renewed. Better quality choices will likely be on the menu for these workers, though they are also going to cost people more.

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.