For One Nonprofit Health Insurance CEO, a Huge Paycheck

Health Costs: Blue Shield of California CEO Bruce Bodaken earned a whopping $4.6 million last year, according to data that the nonprofit insurer had to release because of a new state law, Duke Helfand reports for the Los Angeles Times. The insurer recently scuttled a planned premium increase after a California regulator called it "excessive."

Heart Health: The National Institutes of Health halted a major study of high-dose niacin, a type of B vitamin, early because it didn't help prevent heart attacks even though it lowered "bad cholesterol," Lauran Neergaard reports for the Associated Press. Researchers had hoped adding the vitamin to the cholesterol-lowering statins taken by millions of Americans would help improve the drugs' effectiveness.

Single Payer: Vermont's governor signs the nation's first single payer health bill, although questions about how to finance it and whether the state can get needed government waivers remain.

Medicare: Republican lawmakers are sticking with their unpopular proposed Medicare overhaul even after losing a House seat to a Democrat over the issue, Naftali Bendavid and Janet Hook report for The Wall St. Journal.

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Photo credit: Dustin Moore via Flickr