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Monday

A Doctor's 9 Predictions About The 'Obamacare Era'

Health care delivery is expected to change, with more care provided by nurse practitioners and fewer people having a doctor for life. Images.com/Corbis hide caption

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Images.com/Corbis

Shots - Health News

A Doctor's 9 Predictions About The 'Obamacare Era'

The traditional doctor-patient relationship in which a single doctor gets to know you over years will become a luxury. Those who want a personal physician will have to pay extra for that service. Doctors who chafe at working for big organizations will opt out and charge patients retainer fees.

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times
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Author Interviews

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

Fresh Air

In The Story of the Human Body, evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman explains how our bodies haven't adapted to modern conditions. The result is "mismatch diseases" — ailments that occur because our bodies weren't designed for the environments in which we now live.

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

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How A Tax On Medical Devices United Political Rivals

U.S. House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor (center) and colleagues gather before a Sunday vote on Capitol Hill. The House passed two new provisions to a federal spending bill to delay Obamacare for a year and to repeal the medical device tax. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

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Alex Wong/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

How A Tax On Medical Devices United Political Rivals

About $29 billion in funding for the expansion of health coverage under the Affordable Care Act is expected to come from a tax on devices. Hip implants, MRI scanners and catheters to unclog heart arteries are all affected. Toothbrushes, contact lenses, hearing aids and other consumer products are exempt.

Vaccine Refusals Fueled California's Whooping Cough Epidemic

A student gets vaccinated against pertussis at a Los Angeles middle school in 2012. The state required that students be immunized to halt an epidemic of whooping cough. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

Vaccine Refusals Fueled California's Whooping Cough Epidemic

The whooping cough vaccine isn't perfect, but public health officials suspected that something else contributed to the 2010 pertussis outbreak in California. A study finds that neighborhoods where more parents filed for vaccination exemptions for their children had higher rates of infection.

'How Much Will Obamacare Cost Me?' Try Our Calculator

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iStockphoto.com

Shots - Health News

'How Much Will Obamacare Cost Me?' Try Our Calculator

Many people aren't sure if they'll qualify for subsidized insurance. Many also don't know how much insurance might cost them. Information about premiums is now available in most places, and here's a tool to make use of it.

'How Much Will Obamacare Cost Me?' Try Our Calculator

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Insurance Exchange 101: Here's What You Need To Know

The audience concentrates on a presentation by Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger's office about the federal health care overhaul at the University of Kansas satellite campus in Overland Park, Kan., earlier this month. John Hanna/AP hide caption

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John Hanna/AP

Shots - Health News

Insurance Exchange 101: Here's What You Need To Know

If all goes as planned, people who don't have insurance will be able to shop for it on online insurance marketplaces starting Tuesday. As long as people sign up by Dec. 15, they'll be covered starting Jan. 1.

Insurance Exchange 101: Here's What You Need To Know

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One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare
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Planet Money

One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare

With online health-insurance markets set to open this week, it's still unclear whether healthy people will sign up. Yet the success of the program depends on them.

One Key Thing No One Knows About Obamacare

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Kombucha: Magical Health Elixir Or Just Funky Tea?

Kombucha made by artisan tea brewer Bill Bond in Akron, Ohio, comes in an array of flavors, such as lemongrass, ginger, blueberry and watermelon. Peggy Turbett/The Plain Dealer /Landov hide caption

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Peggy Turbett/The Plain Dealer /Landov

The Salt

Kombucha: Magical Health Elixir Or Just Funky Tea?

It smells like vinegar and tastes like spoiled cider. But fans of the fermented tea say that kombucha helps fight off diseases and aging. Sounds fantastical? Well, it probably is. At this point, scientists still know little about kombucha's health effects.

Kombucha: Magical Health Elixir Or Just Funky Tea?

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To Get The Benefits Of Olive Oil, Fresh May Be Best

Experts say lots of factors determine how quickly an oil deteriorates — from the variety of the olives, to how the oil is produced and stored. Matthias Schrader/AP hide caption

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Matthias Schrader/AP

The Salt

To Get The Benefits Of Olive Oil, Fresh May Be Best

Increasingly, high quality oils have a harvest date stamped on the label. Why? Olive oil goes rancid and loses many of the beneficial compounds in just a few months. If the oil stings the back of your throat, the beneficial compounds are there, experts say.

To Get The Benefits Of Olive Oil, Fresh May Be Best

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Sunday

'Navigator' Helps ER Patients Who Don't Need Emergency Care

New York City's Montefiore Medical Center, located in the Bronx, has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the nation. Robert Benson hide caption

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Robert Benson

The Sunday Conversation

'Navigator' Helps ER Patients Who Don't Need Emergency Care

As a "patient navigator," nurse Wendy Shindler sorts out ER patients who don't need emergency care from those who do. The goal is to achieve better care at a lower cost, but you tell us: Should emergency rooms be able to turn more people away?

'Navigator' Helps ER Patients Who Don't Need Emergency Care

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Saturday

Health Care

The Religious Alternative To Obamacare's Individual Mandate

The new federal health law has a few exemptions from its insurance mandate, including health care sharing ministries. Members pay a monthly fee to help cover some of each other's medical costs — but there are no guarantees.

The Religious Alternative To Obamacare's Individual Mandate

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Friday

Why Brain Surgeons Want Help From A Maggot-Like Robot

University of Maryland's Jaydev Desai shows off a prototype of a robot that he and colleagues are developing to minimize harm to patients during brain surgery. John T. Consoli/University of Maryland hide caption

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John T. Consoli/University of Maryland

Shots - Health News

Why Brain Surgeons Want Help From A Maggot-Like Robot

While watching TV, a neurosurgeon got the idea for a robot that would help minimize collateral damage during operations to remove tumors. Now he and colleagues at the University of Maryland are making progress on a wormy robot that could be ready for testing in humans in a few years.

The Competing Interests Behind Smokey Bear And The Crying Indian
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Books

The Competing Interests Behind Smokey Bear And The Crying Indian

The company behind iconic public service campaigns like Smokey Bear and McGruff the Crime Dog has been around since the 1940s. But how much is really known about the Ad Council? Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks to author Wendy Melillo about her book How McGruff and the Crying Indian Changed America.

The Competing Interests Behind Smokey Bear And The Crying Indian

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Lessons About Insurance In The Obamacare Data Dump

Chicago insurance broker Sean Whaley told The Associated Press earlier this month that his self-employed clients were frustrated that didn't have the information to plan ahead for their families' health care costs in 2014. M. Spencer Green/AP hide caption

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M. Spencer Green/AP

Shots - Health News

Lessons About Insurance In The Obamacare Data Dump

KFF Health News

Very few insurers around the country are offering top-of-the-line platinum insurance plans. Policymakers predicted less expensive but more restrictive bronze and silver plans would prove more popular than high-end options, and it looks like insurance companies think so, too.

Houston Gears Up For Obamacare, Despite GOP Opposition

Enroll America outreach worker Rosy Mota (right) talks about the federal health care law with a CVS customer. Carrie Feibel hide caption

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Carrie Feibel

Shots - Health News

Houston Gears Up For Obamacare, Despite GOP Opposition

KUHF

Leading Texas politicians have resisted the federal health care law. But in Houston, community groups and public health agencies are trying to educate the city's 800,000 uninsured residents about new coverage options.

Houston Gears Up For Obamacare, Despite GOP Opposition

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