Insights

Obamacare's enrollment period largely overlaps with the holidays, when potential enrollees' budgets and mental resources are stretched. So why not schedule enrollment season after the holidays, when tax refunds could give low-income consumers an extra nudge?

POLITICO Pro is looking a health care reporter, and so is The Bismarck Tribune and the St. Louis Dispatch. Radio health reporters should check out the opportunity at Louisville Public Media. U.S. News & World Report has openings for interns. Check out all this week's opportunities.

A bill that would have required warning labels on sugary beverages died in the California legislature. Meanwhile, evidence continues to link such drinks to chronic diseases.

For babies, healthy brain development is like a tennis game. A caregiver "serves" up an interaction, like a facial expression, a coo, or a word, and the infant "returns" that serve, imitating the expression or sound. That "serve and return" dynamic is key.

For children who've suffered trauma and abuse, positive relationships can be elusive. In L.A., an innovative children's center and an alternative all-girls high school are helping kids and teens forge trusting relationships and meaningful narratives out of a traumatic past.

Will the increasing use of consumer data in health care create new exclusions and disparities or lead to a future of better care and better health outcomes? A new report outlines the risks and promises of this brave new health care world.

Facebook's study on emotions ignited a flurry of criticism. But were the Facebook users involved really unsuspecting? Sacrificing a little privacy for answers to social science and health questions isn't a terrible tradeoff. Companies just need to communicate better.

While most of America was occupied with July 4th weekend festivities, bioethicists across the country were online discussing the possible research ethics transgressions committed by the Facebook study of "emotional contagion" through social networks.

There is a Health Care Reporter position open at POLITICO Pro. Plus check out this fellowship opportunity with the Association of Health Care Journalists and the National Library of Medicine.

It was Felix the cat who set it off, a great black outline of the cartoon character with his name emblazoned across his chest in a bygone typography. He spoke of an L.A. from the big, big 1950’s, a mythical all the way to the top time. But for me, standing on Figueroa Blvd. in 2014 Felix set off...