The Big One: Many Southern California Hospitals Unprepared for Earthquakes

Earthquakes: Many Southern California hospitals aren't prepared for a major quake, and state lawmakers keep rolling back deadlines on a law that forces them to retrofit their buildings, Deborah Schoch reports for the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting.

Medicare: As the open enrollment season begins for Medicare on Oct. 15, federal health officials now are ranking Medicare Advantage plans on quality as well as cost and covered drugs, David Gorn reports for California Healthline.

Food Safety: Journalism students in Arizona and Maryland partnered for a News21 report on food safety, finding that only a fraction of imported foods are inspected before they enter the U.S., posing health risks to consumers. 

Deficit: Health care consumers and their lobbyists are pressing members of Congress' deficit-cutting "super committee" to understand the human costs of deep cuts in Medicaid and Medicare health programs for the poor and aged, David Morgan reports for Reuters.

Drunk Driving: The number of U.S. drunk driving incidents has dropped about 30 percent in the past five years, the CDC reports. Since Americans are still drinking as heavily as before, though, the economy may be keeping them home instead of at bars or restaurants, Mike Stobbe reports for the Associated Press.

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Photo credit: Gary B. Edstrom via Wikimedia Commons