Some consumers who use health insurance copays to buy prescription drugs are paying far more than they should be and would be better off paying with cash, especially for generics.

The health law opened the door for millions of young adults to stay on their parents’ health insurance until they turn 26. But there’s a downside to remaining on the family plan. Chances are that mom or dad, as policyholder, will get a notice from the insurer every time the grown-up kid gets medical care, a breach of privacy that many young people may find unwelcome.

Even before polls closed in the June 7 primary election, the proponents of a fall ballot measure dealing with prescription drug costs were up on TV across California with their first ad of the campaign. Text Prescription drug costs are out of control. The drug companies make soaring profits … and we pay the price. ...

Doctors, nurses and pharmacists were among more than 300 charged with health care fraud schemes involving $900 million in false billings in what the Justice Department described Wednesday as the largest such enforcement action in U.S. history.

Nearly a third of all Medicare beneficiaries face a steep increase in their premiums next year, the result of a policy that in certain circumstances requires some beneficiaries, including higher earners, to shoulder the burden of rising costs.

The Obama administration said Wednesday that the financial outlook for Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund had deteriorated slightly in the last year and that Social Security still faced serious long-term financial problems.