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Health plans of all kinds typically cover rehabilitative services, such as physical therapy to help people after an accident or illness. But before the Affordable Care Act passed, coverage of similar services to help people learn or maintain functional skills, rather than regain them, was often excluded.

It's still too soon to say whether this is a historically bad flu season. But it's already clear that emergency rooms around the country are filled with feverish throngs that are much larger than during the last flu season.

People with severe injuries tend to fare much better at specialized trauma centers than in typical emergency rooms. But a study suggests less equipped hospitals are hanging on to patients who can pay.

Under the federal health law and 2006 regulations, insurers can't deny medical coverage for an individual's injuries because they resulted from a medical condition such as depression, even if it wasn't diagnosed before the injury.

Despite a Justice Department decision giving same-sex married couples equal recognition in federal courthouses, prisons and other programs, inconsistency in the treatment of same-sex married couples under the health law remains. States still make their own decisions.

When a relative signs up for Medicare, it is often perplexing — and unnerving — for the rest of the family who may have grown used to cushy employer-sponsored coverage.

As the long, slow demise of company-sponsored retiree health insurance continues, some firms are contracting with Medicare exchanges to try to ease the transition for their former employees.

What sets these bargain markets apart? They tend to have robust competition among hospitals and doctors, allowing insurers to wrangle lower rates. Many of the best deals are to be had in Minnesota, where managed care has long held prices in check.

Screening tests like mammograms and colonoscopies are supposed to be covered under the Affordable Care Act. But some people are finding that they still end up having to pay for anesthesia and other associated services. And not all insurers are covering all forms of birth control.

Because North Carolina didn't expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, many low-income people who could otherwise benefit from the law don't. But there are often ways to bump up their incomes just enough to help them qualify for subsidized coverage.