On Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Departmental Appeals Board announced that transgender people seeking sex reassignment surgery are now allowed to have those surgeries paid for by their Medicare coverage. » 5/30/14 5:40pm 5/30/14 5:40pm

One of the most repeated shouting points against Obamacare's birth control mandate comes from politicians on the right who claim that "their" tax dollars shouldn't go to support "sexual choices" of women who use whore pills. Meanwhile, the same politicians are eerily silent about the millions of dollars per year the… » 3/13/14 1:50pm 3/13/14 1:50pm

Remember this the next time a congressman makes even a peep about the birth control mandate: Between 2006 and 2011, Medicare spend a whopping $172 million on penis pumps. That's a lot of penis pumps! » 1/14/14 1:50pm 1/14/14 1:50pm

Maybe this clip spoke to me because I spent several years of my early adult life surrounded by shouty older dudes who thought that by talking more loudly than me, they could shut me up. But Soledad O'Brien's calm, measured response to Romney Surrogate John Sununu, using facts and Romney's own quotes, is a… » 8/15/12 2:20pm 8/15/12 2:20pm

Did you know there was another Republican presidential debate last night? Well, there was, even though they just had one on Wednesday. Apparently these candidates are desperate for as many opportunities to open their mouths and end their candidacies as they can possibly get. This was the "Commander in Chief" debate,… » 11/13/11 2:50pm 11/13/11 2:50pm

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz criticized Florida Rep. Allen West's support for a budget plan that would cut Medicare. So he called her "vile, despicable" and "not a Lady." » 7/20/11 11:50am 7/20/11 11:50am

After age 64, men earn an average of $31,000; women earn an average of $16,500. » 5/25/11 1:10pm 5/25/11 1:10pm

Thanks to new regulations going into effect today, any hospital participating in Medicare and Medicaid must allow visitors of patients' choosing, whether or not they're married or related. The upshot is that gay couples cannot be denied visitation rights. » 1/19/11 12:46pm 1/19/11 12:46pm

America — third-fattest country in the world, according to the WHO — has a schizophrenic relationship with food. Could the union of obesity activists and eating-disorder advocates generate any real insight? Strangely, at a recent panel, it kinda did. » 4/05/10 6:30pm 4/05/10 6:30pm

[Washington, D.C., July 30. Image via Getty] » 7/31/09 12:10pm 7/31/09 12:10pm

If you were sad that Gwen Ifill did not ask » 10/07/08 4:20pm 10/07/08 4:20pm Sarah Palin about she cut from the Wasilla budget, you'll be happy to know that the John Oliver has the last laugh. After Palin made a reference to Biden's statement about drilling "raping the outer continental shelf" during the VP debate, Oliver asked McCain adviser…

Senior citizens in Western Pennsylvania dialing the number for Medicare listed in Verizon's 2007 White Pages are accidentally getting health benefits of a very different kind. It turns out that the toll-free number listed is actually for a Philadelphia-based phone sex line. The 2008 White Pages with the correct number… » 3/04/08 2:40pm 3/04/08 2:40pm