Undercutting rivals on price is an unusual and stealthily brilliant strategy from Merck. It will likely burnish the company's image at a time when politicians are aggressively attacking high drug prices. It could possibly reshape the way drugs are priced. And who doesn't like a good old-fashioned price war?

After the open enrollment period ends on Sunday for buying coverage on the health insurance marketplaces, people can generally sign up for or switch marketplace plans only if they have certain major life changes, such as losing their on-the-job coverage or getting married. Following insurance industry criticism, last week the federal government said it will scrutinize people’s applications for such “special enrollment periods” more closely, including one of the most commonly cited reasons — relocating to a new state.

California voters will weigh in this November on a high-stakes ballot proposition intended to help control the cost of prescription drugs -- the latest attempt to limit soaring prices that have prompted public criticism nationwide.

The head of the third-biggest U.S. health insurer said he has “serious concerns” about whether or not Obamacare’s new markets are sustainable, echoing criticism from other top for-profit insurers.

Three weeks ago, Gov. Jerry Brown confidently predicted that the vexing question of how to extend a tax on healthcare plans in order to fund state medical coverage for the poor was well on its way to being solved.

Covered California, the state’s insurance exchange, announced Friday that it was extending its enrollment deadline until Feb. 6 for people who had officially begun the process of signing up by Sunday.