One of every five kids and 9 of 10 older Americans took at least one prescription drug in the previous month, says a survey taken in 2008. Read more from the original source: Almost Half of Americans Took a Prescription Drug in Past Month  Read More →

One new study estimates the percentage of workers at firms with 50 or fewer employees offered health insurance will rise to 86% from 60% after health-care overhaul is implemented. The rest is here: A Whole Lotta Studies on Small Business and Health Insurance  Read More →

Also: NEJM editors say Meridia should be yanked; stem cell plaintiffs explain themselves to the WSJ; are hospital profits the driver of health-care costs? Read the original here: A.M. Vitals: Allergan Will Settle Off-Label Botox Allegations  Read More →

Also: Price hike for last-resort insurance in California; potential warfarin replacements line up; dialysis deal reached in Atlanta; U.S. asks judge to allow embryonic stem cell research to proceed. More:  A.M. Vitals: Genzyme Says Sanofi Needs to Cough... 

About 60 million Americans have medical conditions that should be known in an emergency, but only a fraction wear medical ID or carry their health information. Original post:  Boosting the Use of Medical Alert Bling To Save Lives  Read More →

Also: Most C-sections performed before labor starts; American companies push into Chinese electronic medical record market; investigators looking at health-care credit cards. Continued here: A.M. Vitals: Genzyme Points to MS Drug As Sign Sanofi Bid is... 

Also: 50 million Americans on Medicaid; two studies boost Plavix rivals; pediatricians say no erectile dysfunction drug ads before 10pm. Originally posted here: A.M. Vitals: Genzyme Rejects Takeover Offer From Sanofi-Aventis  Read More →

Also: campaign donations by health insurers; Roche doesn’t get an accelerated review of new breast-cancer drug; Obama administration touts Medicare anti-fraud efforts. Read the rest here:  A.M. Vitals: Latest J&J Recall Involves Two DePuy... 

eMarketer estimates online spending by U.S. health-care and pharma companies will hit $1.52 billion in 2014. Read the rest here: Report: Pharma Digital Spending Growing — But Slowly  Read More →

Also: experimental melanoma drug results; California insurance news; radiation at Walter Reed. Original post:  A.M. Vitals: Judge Won’t Nix Generic Version of Sanofi’s Lovenox  Read More →