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Just because medical marijuana is legal where you live doesn't mean your health insurer will deem it worthy of coverage. The feds still classify it as a controlled substance with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, so insurers and employers are wary of paying for it.

Just before new penalties kicked in for hospitals that readmit too many Medicare patients, the government discovered that the data it used to were out of date. The changes from the error are tiny, amounting on average to a fraction of a percent for most of the affected hospitals.

Since the health law was enacted, 22 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws or regulations that encouraged insurers to begin selling child-only policies again, a study found. But in many states there are no restrictions on how much insurers can charge for them.

Medicare is withholding 1 percent of its regular hospital payments to fund bonuses for hospitals that score well on quality tests. Separately, Medicare will penalize hospitals that have higher than expected readmission rates.

Health premiums are going up for 2013, though not quite as much as in 2012. Even so, the tab will likely be bigger for most people who get health coverage at work. Employers are asking workers to shoulder a bigger portion of the costs.

Under the federal health law, adult children can remain on parents' insurance plans until they reach age 26. Parents may find out about their daughters' prescriptions for birth control pills from notices of insurance benefits.

The Affordable Care Act included a Medicaid pay hike for primary care doctors. It's an incentive for them to see the larger number of patients who will be covered by an expansion of Medicaid under the law. Some other specialists who say they also provide primary care won't be eligible for the increase.

Law enforcement agencies are reporting an increase in health insurance scams across the country. Many of the scammers seem to be preying on the public's confusion over the massive changes taking place in the nation's health care system.

Nearly three-quarters of states get poor grades when it comes to laws about the making available prices for health care. Most consumers are unaware of the tremendous variation in price for health care services.

Patients feel little personal responsibility for keeping health costs lower, a study found. They were also unlikely to accept a less expensive treatment option, even if it was nearly as effective as a more expensive choice.