To steer more of its members to cheaper generic drugs, Independence Blue Cross is extending its "no-pay co-pay" program for the rest of 2007.

Chronically ill patients asked lawmakers Thursday to repair a Medicaid program they say is broken, now that changes to the federal Medicare program make it harder for them to qualify for state assistance.

The bill would require a person to prove lawful presence in the United States before receiving assistance, such as Medicare.

Millions of college students are suddenly facing sharply higher prices for birth control, prompting concerns among health officials that some will shift to less preferred contraceptives or stop using them altogether.

Despite Republican opposition, senators voted 12-10 to require health insurers to extend family coverage to dependents through age 25. The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee, where it will face further scrutiny. That committee will then report back to the full Senate; senators would have to pass the bill again before it could move to the House.

When House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., the living legend of congressional inquiry, spoke at a February 13 oversight hearing on the Health and Human Services Department, his performance was less than riveting.

But a key question remains: Will unions and their traditional rivals in the business community -- deeply at odds this year over workplace organizing rights -- be able to work together on broader issues such as health care reform?

This week, America's Health Insurance Plans released polls showing 62 percent of low-income seniors would skip some of the medical treatments they receive in their Medicare Advantage plan rather than enroll in Medicare.

Small businesses may soon be able to pool health insurance coverage in hopes of lowering or stabilizing their insurance costs.

Also, insurers could be allowed to offer incentives to businesses whose workers participate in wellness activities.

The Senate easily defeated conservative Republicans' efforts to curb the Medicare program's spiraling growth, as debate on a $2.9 trillion budget outline for 2008 entered a third day yesterday.

"It's the most undersold insurance," said J. Robert Hunter, director of insurance for the Consumer Federation of America and former Texas insurance commissioner. "Most other kinds of insurance people buy too much of or pay too much for. In this case, most people buy too little."

There are some 22.5 million seniors and disabled people enrolled in private insurance plans that are backed by the federal government, according to The Associated Press. Those insurers negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical companies.

Gov. Matt Blunt last month unveiled his plan to make health insurance more affordable, especially for employees of small businesses.

The state Health Department wants every licensed health-care facility to help care for the poor and uninsured, and yesterday morning, draft regulations that would require such spending got their first public airing -- and pounding.

The Bush administration reassured worried health insurance executives Thursday that it strongly opposes efforts to cut their payments and use the savings to expand a separate insurance program for children. They say it's about helping poor children versus overpaying insurance companies.

Americans, of course, have been flocking to the Internet in search of health information for years -- 113 million of them (80 percent of Web users) in 2006, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Eight million people a day scour cyberspace for details on diets, diseases and doctors.

It's been mostly doom-and-gloom days for Republicans -- a lost majority, Iraq, U.S. attorneys, soul-searching over just what happened to the party of Reagan. So it's worth noting a new intellectual debate that's rumbling to life in the party wings, one that could signal whether the GOP is capable of rediscovering its free-market principles.

Many states, looking to rein in the cost of expensive antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa, have turned to an unusual ally for help -- the very company that sells the drug.

ELMER is Heartland's new electronic medical recording system. It keeps track of patients' medical records, including past scans, procedures and current medications. Doctors with Heartland can view these records from any computer in the hospital or their homes.

More than 94 percent of the state's children have health insurance, ranking New Hampshire near the top in the nation, according to new research.

Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Carol Herrmann-Steckel said the state doesn't have money to establish such a program.

Last year, the state convened a panel of health care luminaries to rethink how the government provides for uninsured patients, who for generations leaned on the emergency room at Charity Hospital for the most basic medical needs.

CoverTN aims to help some small businesses solve one of their biggest problems -- health care coverage for owners and employees.

Judging by the reaction of some of those folks at a town hall meeting on the program Wednesday, the state program, set to kick in next month, may be off target.

Independence Blue Cross, one of the region's largest insurers, is implementing a program in which doctors come calling to 500 Medicare patients in southeastern Pennsylvania. The program is free to the patients, who generally have at least two chronic illnesses and have been hospitalized at least twice in the previous year.