President Barack Obama said he is "comfortable" with a recent decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow over the counter access of morning-after pills (Plan B) to girls 15 and older.

Responding to questions at a recent press conference in Mexico City with Mexican President Pena Nieto, Obama explained that his comfort level was based on the scientific data presented to him.

"I'm very comfortable with the decision they've made right now based on solid scientific evidence for girls 15 and older," Obama said Thursday. more >>

"Obamacare takes effect in less than eight months. Do you realize what this means? If you go to the emergency room now, you'll be covered by the time you finally see a doctor." –Stephen Colbert

If ObamaCare is such a great idea, why does Congress want out?

Politico reports that, after allowing politically connected friends of the Democrat party like unions to opt out of this awful law, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) are slithering around in the shadows trying to exempt themselves and staffers. more >>

We've all heard the startling statistics about obesity in America: over one third of American adults are obese (almost 36%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Obesity puts us at risk for all kinds of health problems, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. And it doesn't afflict everyone equally: nearly 50% of blacks are obese, and lower income Americans in general are more likely to be obese than others.

In an effort to combat these problems, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg instituted a ban on sugary sodas larger than 16 ounces sold at the city's restaurants, food carts and movie theaters. The plan for enforcement was to disperse food inspectors and to fine businesses found in violation $200 per infraction. The ban received a mixed reaction: some public health advocates saw it as a much needed first step to encourage people to eat healthier. But the ban's most vocal opponents were a surprising collection of minority businessmen who do not always work with conservative business people.

More surprising is the fact that The NAACP, the Hispanic Federation, the New York Hispanic Chambers of Commerce and the Korean-American Grocers Association have all opposed the ban. They correctly note that the policy, if enacted, would hurt businesses in an already struggling economy, and a disproportionate number of those businesses would be minority owned. Why? Because such a ban would cut into the profits of food carts and other small delis while leaving expensive sit-down restaurants and large corporations like 7-Eleven unaffected. more >>

Some congressional leaders are looking at changing a part of the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," that requires members of Congress and their staff to get their health insurance from the new health care exchanges.

Leaders from both parties have been in talks about making the change. Aware that they could be considered hypocrites for making the change, those meetings were in private. With the revelation of those secret meetings by Politico's John Bresnahan and Jake Sherman, those congressional leaders now appear to be backing away from the idea.

The requirement that all members of Congress and their staff get their health coverage through the exchanges was an odd quirk in the law from the beginning. more >>

The media is abuzz with stories of outrageous markups at many hospitals. One of the most eye-popping numbers making the rounds? A supposedly "non-profit" hospital charges $1.50 per pill for a generic version of Tylenol. That's about 100 times the retail price.

Obviously, health care takes too much out of our paychecks, too much from our bank accounts, and too many of our tax dollars. Spending in this sector accounts for almost 18 percent of the economy. And the rising cost of government health programs is the biggest long-term driver of our national debt. Medicare alone cost $551 billion in 2012 and is projected to cost more than $1 trillion in a decade.

The question is what we should do about it. One approach is simply to squeeze down costs, and there are certainly savings to be reaped this way. A better approach, however, is to look at what is driving these high levels of health care spending and see if we can intervene there. more >>

As critics of President Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act latched on to a controversial "train wreck" comment made by Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of Montana in his discussion of the 2010 law on Wednesday, the senior lawmaker said he was only referring to the law's implementation.

"I just see a huge train wreck coming down," Baucus told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a Wednesday hearing in the Senate Finance Committee in Washington, D.C. Many people, he explained, were confused about the new health law and argued that the Obama-led administration needed to do a better job of telling people about its benefits and how it will work. "You and I have discussed this many times, and I don't see any results yet," said Baucus to Sebelius.

In clarifying his position after the brouhaha over his comments, he released a statement later that day vouching for Obamacare. "This is a good law, but it can't work if people don't understand it," he said. more >>