Premiums for popular low-cost medical plans under the federal health care law are expected to go up an average of 11 percent next year, said a study that reinforced reports of sharp increases around the country in election season. For consumers, the impact will depend on whether they get government… Read More

The University of Pittsburgh says one of its researchers became infected with the Zika virus in a lab accident. The scientist accidentally stuck herself with a needle last month during a Zika experiment. She developed Zika symptoms last week and lab tests confirmed the infection. Pitt officials on Thursday said… Read More

Philadelphia could soon become the first major U.S. city with a sugary drinks tax after a city council committee voted Wednesday to approve an amended version of a soda tax proposal that would set a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on sugary and diet drinks. Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney initially proposed a… Read More

The Federal Aviation Administration has ruled out requiring psychological testing for airline pilots, despite an air crash last year in which a German pilot deliberately flew an airliner full of passengers into a mountainside, agency administrator Michael Huerta said Thursday. Psychological tests are ineffective because they reveal a pilot’s mental… Read More

The troubles with kids these days … are not as common as they used to be. U.S. teens are having a lot less sex, they are drinking and using drugs less often, and they aren’t smoking as much, according a government survey of risky youth behaviors. “I think you can… Read More

The nation’s obesity epidemic continues to grow, led by an alarming increase among women. For the first time, more than 4 in 10 U.S. women are obese, according to new government health statistics. Obesity rates for men and women in the U.S. had been roughly the same for about a… Read More

Savannah Guthrie of the “Today” show put a public face Tuesday on what NBC says is a “small handful” of employees who will not travel to Rio de Janeiro this summer for Olympics coverage because of concern over the Zika virus. The co-host of the morning news show, who is… Read More

Scientists proposed a long-term project Thursday that involves creating DNA blueprints for making human beings, a prospect some observers find troubling. The researchers said they have no intention of using these genomes — huge collections of genetic material — to make people. Instead, they said in interviews, human genomes would… Read More

The former head of a hospice who allegedly used patients that weren’t terminally ill to collect millions of dollars in false Medicare and Medicaid billings was scheduled to plead guilty. Former Horizons Hospice chief operating officer Mary Ann Stewart, 48, was indicted in Pittsburgh last year on one count of… Read More

Demand for long-term care is expected to increase as the nation ages, but the majority of Americans 40 and older lack confidence in their ability to pay for it. The annual cost of long-term care expenses range from $17,680 for adult day care to more than $92,000 for a private… Read More