ER Visits On The Rise, CDC Says

ER Care: Emergency room visits rose by nearly 10 percent to 136 million in 2009 according to the CDC, reflecting patients' higher demand for care and healthcare workers' increased speed in getting them in and out, Victoria Colliver reports for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Health Costs: Employers are giving fewer raises to their workers, instead directing that money to health care benefits, according to new U.S. Census data, Guy Boulton and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel.

Health Reform: Now that its own health reform experiment is well underway, Massachusetts officials are turning their attention to controlling the state's spiraling health care costs, Abby Goodnough and Kevin Sack report for the New York Times.

Environmental Health: A pesticide company's memo points to pressure on state officials not to tighten rules for methyl iodide, which has been linked to cancer, Robin Urevich reports for HealthyCal.org. State officials later approved use of the pesticide at levels 100 times higher than what the state's scientists recommended for the health of agricultural workers and nearby residents.

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