New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation to create a statewide health-insurance exchange.

U.S. government studies say young adults continue to get sunburned and tan indoors at a rate that increases their risk of skin cancer.

Here’s what’s making health news this morning: Study Damps Fears on Autism Change (WSJ):  A controversial change to the criteria for diagnosing autism turns out to “almost always” catch children diagnosed under the current guidelines, new data show. FDA Panel Considers HIV Drug for New Use (WSJ): Gilead Sciences has asked the Food and Drug Administration to consider approving its HIV treatment Truvada as a preventive medicine—a potential first—that could keep people from contracting the virus. An advisory panel will vote Thursday. Insurers Embrace “Virtual” Doctor Visits (Kaiser Health News): Some large insurers are promoting telemedicine visits to lower the cost of doctors services, though physicians worry the shift could shortchange patients. Drugmakers’ Deal With Obama Said to Be Probed by House (Bloomberg): House Republicans are probing drugmakers over an agreement forged with the Obama administration to support the 2010 federal health law. Discrepancies on Medical Bills Can Leave a Credit Stain (New York Times): As patients increasingly pay for larger shares of their health-care costs out-of-pocket, dealing with medical bills is becoming a more complicated task.

As more of us live longer, we increasingly face the question of how to pay the rising cost of extended care, whether in a nursing home, an assisted-living center or at home. And the potential amounts are huge: The average cost of private room in a nursing home is $81,030, according to Genworth Financial Inc., an insurer that writes long-term-care policies. Long-term-care-insurance policies pay a cash benefit that helps to pay for those costs, as long as patients can meet certain medical requirements such as needing help with at least two daily activities, like bathing or dressing, or requiring care for dementia. Typically purchased by people in their 50s and 60s, the policies can substantially ease the financial burden of spending time in a nursing home or getting home care. And because Medicaid – the government program that covers long-term care – typically requires patients to exhaust most of their financial assets before coverage kicks in, long-term-care policies can help the elderly protect those assets. Still, the policies are expensive, and costs are rising. And they may not be for everyone. We’re seeking your opinions about long-term care insurance for an upcoming special report.  Vote in our poll and comment below for potential inclusion in print.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – If you’ve ever tried to install a car seat, you know how frustrating it can be for even the most seasoned parent. According to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, there’s a reason for this, cars aren’t being set up properly to make car seat installation easy. The IIHS focused on the system known as Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, or LATCH. The system was originally designed with standard hardware to make car seat installation easier. Even with the LATCH system, the installation of a car seat is still problematic. “Installing a child restraint isn’t always as simple as a couple of clicks and you’re done,” says Anne McCartt, the Institute’s senior vice president for research and one of the report’s authors. “Sometimes parents blame themselves when they struggle with LATCH, but oftentimes the problem lies with the vehicle, not the user.” The IIHS found that only seven vehicles out of 98 analyzed had a LATCH system in the middle of a second-row seat, which is the safest place for children to travel. In addition, the lower anchors for the system were visible on just 36 of the 98 cars studied. IIHS researchers looked at three factors in making their determinations: Depth, Clearance, and Force. Depth referred to how deep in the seat the anchors were. Clearance refers to nothing obstructing access to the anchors. Researchers said force was based on using less than 40 pounds of force during installation. Several 20111 models did meet all of the easy-installation criteria including: Audi A4 Quattro Cadillac Escalade Chevrolet Equinox LT Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab Chevrolet Suburban LT Chevrolet Tahoe LS Chrysler Town & Country (2010) Dodge Caliber Mainstreet Dodge Grand Caravan Crew Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab Ford Escape XLT Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab SLE Honda Pilot EX-L Kia Sedona LX Land Rover Range Rover Sport Mercedes-Benz C300 Mercedes-Benz E350 Mitsubishi Eclipse coupe GS Mitsubishi Lancer ES Toyota Tacoma extended cab On the other hand, researchers found several 2011 models that didn’t meet any easy-installation criteria including: Buick Enclave CX Chevrolet Impala LT Dodge Avenger Express Ford Flex SEL Ford Taurus Limited Hyundai Sonata Limited Toyota Sienna XLE

We are excited to share one of our fave stories from Shape here on FitSugar. Today there are tests for almost everything. Luckily, these five health checks don’t require waiting in line to see a doctor or filling a prescription that may or may not be covered by your insurance. Read on for five DIY health checks you can perform that might just save your life. View Slideshow ›

The FDA and Statins: The FDA will require drug makers to add to statin labels a warning about a small increase in the risk of increased blood-sugar levels and of diabetes linked to the drugs, the WSJ reports . The labels will also include the information that some patients have experienced an adverse reaction of memory loss and confusion, though that won’t be a full-fledged warning. But the FDA also removed a warning about the need for liver-enzyme monitoring from statin labels. Cardiologists tell the paper that most people should keep taking their statins despite the new label information. Benefit Cuts at Kodak: Eastman Kodak is proposing to end health-care benefits for about 16,000 Medicare-eligible retirees in order to save about $20.5 million annually, the Associated Press reports . Kodak filed for Chapter 11 last month. Insurer and Physicians’ Group Clash: Insurer Blue Shield of California filed a demand for at least $10.5 million in damages from Monarch HealthCare, a physician association that sold its management arm to a unit of UnitedHealth Group, the WSJ reports . Blue Shield alleges that Monarch tried to direct Blue Shield members into competing health plans and that physicians stopped seeing some members, violating the contract between Blue Shield and Monarch. Monarch says it objects to “the mischaracterizations made by Blue Shield,” the paper says. The case was submitted for binding arbitration. The Right Dose of Selenium: A review of previously published research appearing in the Lancet suggests that large doses of selenium supplements could raise the risk for type 2 diabetes, Bloomberg News reports . The author of the review suggests that people with blood selenium levels of 122 micrograms per liter or higher shouldn’t supplement with the mineral, which has been associated with a lower risk of some cancers, BN says. Image: iStockphoto

By a number of indicators, people have been using fewer medical services during the economic downturn. Screening colonoscopies apparently aren’t immune to that trend, according to a study appearing in the March issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The study finds that during the recent recession, commercially insured Americans had fewer of the tests to screen for cancer — a test that saves lives, according to research published just this week. According to the analysis, there were about 500,000 fewer screening colonoscopies among commercially-insured people aged 50 to 64 than you’d expect during the most recent recession, which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. (The study used the National Bureau of Economic Research’s official designation for the recession .) The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends colorectal cancer screening using several methods, including colonoscopy, for adults aged 50 to 75. The analysis didn’t find that people forgoing colonoscopy were instead using other, cheaper methods, such as fecal occult blood tests or sigmoidoscopy. Researchers looked at the rates of screening before and after the recession, then applied their findings to population data to come up with an estimate of 516,309 colonoscopies that would have occurred absent the downturn. Data came from 106 health plans and added up to a nationally representative picture of the commercially insured population, the authors say. It doesn’t include people who didn’t have a screening colonoscopy because they lost insurance coverage during the recession, says Spencer Dorn , an author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine in the division of gastroenterology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And it doesn’t include Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries. The analysis also found that when it comes to colonoscopy, cost sharing appears to be a deterrent. No matter the economic climate, people with higher out-of-pocket costs — $300 or more for the procedure — were less likely to be screened than those with lower costs, defined as $50 or less. That gap “widened during the recession,” says Dorn. Under the health-care overhaul law, colonoscopy — and other preventive services — must be covered with no cost sharing by Medicare, Medicaid and new private-insurance plans. (“Grandfathered” plans that haven’t significantly changed their design are exempt.) The drop in utilization seen in the study “could have negative consequences down the line,” says Dorn, in terms of cancers being caught at a later stage. (The screening study out this week suggests it might also lead to deaths from the disease.) The CDC last year reported an increase in screening rates for colorectal cancer from 2002 to 2010, but that estimate included all 50- to 75-year-olds and didn’t break down what happened during the intervening years.

Counterfeiters Turn to Injectables: Injectable drugs are at an increasingly higher risk of being counterfeited because they are generally more expensive than pills and thus more lucrative to fake, the WSJ reports . The FDA has recently warned about unauthorized versions of certain cancer medications being marketed and sold and others being illegally imported. Most recently, Roche’s Genentech unit warned that counterfeit Avastin was found in the U.S. What About the Self-Insured?: The Obama administration’s compromise on the no-copays-for-birth-control issue doesn’t solve the issue for large religious-affiliated employers that self-insure, the New York Times reports . The administration says the details of how self-insured employers will be affected by the policy shift will be worked out with input from religious leaders. Paying for the “Doc Fix”: The tentative deal forged by lawmakers to put off for 10 months a reduction in Medicare reimbursement to physicians and hospitals would be paid for in part by cuts to the prevention fund established by the health-care overhaul law, the WSJ reports . The agreement calls for tentative cuts of $5 billion to the fund, which was supposed to spend $15 billion over a decade for things such as immunizations and cancer screening. Avian Flu Meeting: Researchers are meeting behind closed doors in Geneva today and tomorrow to try to figure out how to handle the delayed publication of two papers on dangerous mutations to the avian flu virus, Reuters reports . A World Health Organization official tells Reuters he’d like meeting participants to agree on how the studies should be published and who should be able to access the full data. Last month scientists agreed to “pause” such research for 60 days to allow an international discussion on the issue. Image: iStockphoto

Hostile Bid For Illumina: Swiss drug maker Roche is making a $44.50 per-share hostile bid for Illumina, valuing the gene-sequencing company at $5.7 billion, the WSJ reports . Illumina has already rejected an offer of $40 per share, Roche says. The latest bid represents a premium of about 18% to Illumina’s $37.69 closing price Tuesday. Illumina said today it would review Roche’s proposal. PFCs and Vaccines: A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that increased exposure to chemicals known as PFCs is associated with a weaker immune response to the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines in children, NPR’s Shots blog reports . PFCs, some of which have been phased out by the EPA, are found in some food containers, non-stick coatings and stain-resistant fabrics, NPR reports. WellPoint Earnings: WellPoint’s fourth-quarter earnings fell 39% to $335.3 million, or 96 cents per share, due to investment losses and higher costs, the WSJ reports . Excluding special items, earnings fell to 99 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of $1.12. Revenue rose 5.5% to $15.18 billion, less than the $15.41 billion expected by analysts. Grieving as Depression?: There’s controversy over the American Psychiatric Association’s proposed revision to the diagnosis of depression, which would encompass some people who are suffering bereavement after the loss of a loved one, the New York Times reports . A new report says counting some people who are grieving as depressed would lead to unnecessary treatment; other experts say that depression can indeed occur in the bereaved and that those people merit attention. Image: iStockphoto