Beyond Drowsy, Too Little Sleep Ups Diabetes Risk

Growing evidence shows long-term health problems can result from chronic jet lag, graveyard shifts

2012-04-18

Lauran Neergaard AP Medical Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- More people pull the night shift. Teens text past midnight and stumble to class at dawn. Travelers pack red-eye flights. Read the complete article

GOP to Cut Food Stamps in Deficit-Reduction Drive

Proposal would reduce monthly benefit by almost $60 for family of four

2012-04-17

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans controlling the House are eying big cuts to food stamps and would make it more difficult for illegal immigrants to claim child tax credits as they piece together legislation to cut $261 billion in the coming decade. Read the complete article

After $1 Billion, Experts See Progress on Autism's Causes

The past week has seen spate of studies offering fresh info on what may cause condition

2012-04-09

Mike Stobbe AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -- More than $1 billion has been spent over the past decade searching for the causes of autism. In some ways, the research looks like a long-running fishing expedition, with a focus on everything from genetics to the age of the father, the weight of the mother, and how close a child lives to a freeway. Read the complete article

Georgia Easter Egg Hunt Canceled After Past Violence

Coordinator says parents’ aggression led to scrapping this year’s event in Macon

2012-04-08

MACON, Ga. (AP) -- An annual Easter egg hunt in central Georgia has been canceled after organizers say parents became violent while trying to collect eggs for themselves and their children in past years. Read the complete article

Doctors Want to Redefine Autism, but Parents Worry

Some specialists say proposed move will exclude up to 40 percent of affected children

2012-04-07

Lindsey Tanner AP Medical Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- One child doesn't talk, rocks rhythmically back and forth and stares at clothes spinning in the dryer. Another has no trouble talking but is obsessed with trains, methodically naming every station in his state. Read the complete article

High Court Has Options on Health Care Law

Here’s a look at six possible outcomes and how they would affect American public

2012-03-30

Mark Sherman and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The arguments are done and the case has been submitted, as Chief Justice John Roberts says at the end of every Supreme Court argument. Now the justices will wrestle with what to do with President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. They have a range of options, from upholding the law to striking it down in its entirety. The court also could avoid deciding the law's constitutionality at all, although that prospect seems remote after this week's arguments. Read the complete article

CDC: 1 in 88 US Kids Have Autism

This new estimate means autism is nearly twice as common as officials said it was only five years ago, and likely affects roughly 1 million U.S. children and teens.

2012-03-29

Mike Stobbe AP Medical Writer

ATLANTA (AP) -- A new government report says autism is more common than previously thought, burdening as many as 1 in 88 children. Read the complete article

Court Takes Health Care Case Behind Closed Doors

The court's decision, due in June, will affect the way virtually every American receives and pays for health care and surely will reverberate in this year's campaigns

2012-03-29

Mark Sherman The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The survival of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul rests with a Supreme Court seemingly split over ideology and, more particularly, in the hands of two Republican-appointed justices. Read the complete article

Health Care Arguments: Now What About Medicaid?

Justices show strong resistance to states' argument that expansion of program is “coercive”

2012-03-28

Mark Sherman and Pete Yost The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court's liberal justices are making clear they will vote to uphold the massive expansion of the Medicaid program for low-income Americans that is part of the health care overhaul. Read the complete article

VIDEO: Some Justices Seem Open to Saving Parts of Health Care Law

Even if central component of legislation is struck down, Medicaid expansion and other provisions could survive

2012-03-28

Mark Sherman and Pete Yost The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Several Supreme Court justices seemed receptive Wednesday to the idea that portions of President Barack Obama's health care law can survive even if the court declares the centerpiece unconstitutional. Read the complete article