Julie Rovner

The so-called morning after pill will soon be available without a prescription, on pharmacy shelves, with no restrictions on age. That's because the Obama administration has dropped a long-running battle to keep age restriction on emergency contraception.

In a surprise move, a federal appeals court ruled that some "morning after" contraceptives must be made available without prescriptions now, even though the federal government is in the midst of appealing a lower court ruling that would make the pills widely available.

Many young women don't get maternity coverage if they're on a parent's health plan. A sex discrimination claim aims to get them coverage for childbirth care under provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

In three-quarters of the states where the federal government is running the marketplaces, at least one new insurer has applied to enter the individual market.

Abortion opponents are hoping the recent murder conviction of Pennsylvania abortion provider Kermit Gosnell will lead to more scrutiny of second trimester abortions. They're working on a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy — nationwide.

Some single baby boomers are moving into group houses, a college-era solution to their modern needs. Housemates share costs, socialize, and cheer each other on through life's thick and thin.

Marilyn Tavenner, who has been running the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services in an acting capacity since late 2011, has a big job. The agency oversees health coverage for more than 100 million Americans.

The news that scientists have successfully cloned a human embryo seems almost certain to rekindle a political fight that has raged, on and off, since the creation of Dolly the sheep. It's a fight that has, over the past decade and a half, produced a lot of heat and light and not a lot of policy.

Abortion rights backers insist that Dr. Kermit Gosnell is an outlier. Opponents of abortion say Gosnell is anything but an exception. Congress is gearing up to investigate how states regulate abortion in the wake of the verdict.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted in Philadelphia Monday of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies who were delivered alive and then killed. Both sides on the abortion issues have been gearing up for what comes next.

Iin denying the government's motion for a stay, U.S. District Court Judge Korman, who has overseen the case since 2005, also laid out several substantive problems with the situation that last week's approval by the Food and Drug Administration created.

The growth in health spending has definitely slowed, according to several recent studies. Some reasons: the weak economy, a shift of costs to patients and fewer expensive technologies being introduced.