On March 18 of this year, the first cases of swine flu began to appear in Mexico City. Though cases of swine flu had presented themselves prior to March of 2009, it was a relatively rare and benign type of flu. In fact, there were only twelve human cases of swine flu in the U.S. from December of 2005 to February of 2009.

There are only a handful of states that require drug manufacturers to disclose the payments they make to doctors and other healthcare providers every year. Many of the states that otherwise require this disclosure also feature a provision that allows the companies to declare their payments as trade secrets so that the state can’t disclose to the public.

California has one of the nation’s largest populations of non-English speaking residents, possibly only second to New York or Miami. For these people, going to the doctor or pharmacist has been a nightmare. Without being able to get their message across, some patients have actually been given the wrong medications or been misdiagnosed, simply because they could not be understood.

Many women’s health activists are happy about Barack Obama’s recent election victory, hoping that he’ll reverse at least some of the health policies put in place by the Bush administration.

It may come as a complete surprise to you to find out that women pay much more for the same health insurance coverage than men of the same age. Some health insurance policies often cost women hundreds of dollars more a year than what a man would have to pay for the exact same coverage.