You may remember the video reports of Edith Rodriguez, a 43-year-old woman seen dying in the emergency room of a hospital in Los Angeles. Well, that hospital was the Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, which was closed in 2007 after the facility failed a make or break inspection that meant the loss of $200 million in federal funds.

Now a significantly smaller hospital may be opened in its place as the Martin Luther King Jr. medical facility, which will be a private non-profit facility run jointly by the county of Los Angeles and the University of California. The original hospital at one point had as many as 400 beds and the new hospital will be downsized to 120 beds. There will be an emergency room but no trauma center.

The county will contribute $50 million annually to cover expenses and operating costs and $13.3 million a year toward the care of uninsured patients. The university will provide 14 to 20 physicians and medical oversight for the in-patient hospital with a goal of eventually providing medical residents to train there.

The latest guidelines from the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force now say that women don't need mammograms every year and don't need the first one until 50. Citing millions who have had "false positives," they report that the benefit is not worth the risk.

For some of us, this isn't surprising. I have long questioned whether a yearly mammogram is really necessary. After all, you are shooting radiation into sensitive breast tissue every year in a machine that flattens your breast like an automatic garage door opener. But for many women, that is only the beginning. Almost every woman I know, including me, has had a false positive with a mammogram that is a nightmare of anxiety.

It seems like there is data (or at least numbers) on every factor that any family could ever dream of considering when selecting a college. Which colleges have the highest graduation rates? Which college produce the most Nobel Prize winners?

But let's be honest. There's one thing we really want to know. Which schools are most likely to turn kids into drunken train wrecks? Happily, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has put together some data on the topic:

I'm one of those 30 million people without health insurance. I don't have it, my wife doesn't have it, my daughter doesn't have it.

The short version of the story goes like this. A couple of years ago, I received a note from my insurer that they were going to be tripling the monthly premium for my small business coverage. So I had no choice but to either go broke paying the new premium, or simply cancel the coverage. I canceled it.

In the meantime, I was hit by a car while cycling and fractured my T10 vertebra.

Just as swine flu activity is slowing, health officials are worried about another increase as people travel for Thanksgiving. And a few weeks after Thanksgiving, more people will be preparing to travel for Christmas, making now a good time to review government recommendations on travel during swine flu season.

Nobody wants another travel scene like last spring in Mexico, when thousands of travelers canceled trips to Mexico after a swine flu outbreak there.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a whole list of interim guidelines for flight crews regarding the swine flu, and probably the best among them for travelers is that "People with symptoms of novel influenza A (H1N1) virus infection should not leave home or travel."

Inside Higher Ed reports that "More than two dozen seniors at Lincoln University, in Oxford, Pa., are in danger of not being able to graduate this spring -- not because they're under disciplinary probation or haven't fulfilled the requirements of their majors, but because they were obese as freshmen."

That's right: the historically Black College has a new requirement for graduation. Students must either have a BMI below 30 (a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese) or complete a one-semester "Fitness For Life" class.

Some 19% of 2006's freshman class had BMIs over 30, but most of those students either lost some weight or took the class. However there are still about 25 students left -- out of a class of 484 -- who have neither lost weight nor taken the class.

Heart disease, it seems, doesn't discriminate, striking not only both men and women. Now, scientists have learned not even Pharaohs were spared of hardened arteries.

And they developed heart disease despite the absence of super-size fries paired with a sugary soda and greasy burgers, one of today's popular heart disease scapegoats. No doubt music to Ronald McDonald's ears.

"We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City who found signs of heart disease in 3,500 year-old mummies, told the Associated Press.

It's a promise from Santa Claus, so it has to be good: The global swine flu pandemic won't stop him from delivering presents this year.

"I swear that Christmas will not be canceled this year," Father Christmas told Finnish national broadcaster YLE, explaining that many children were worried he would catch swine flu, according to an ATP story.

And in what may not look like the kindest move after a child has left his lap, Santa Claus is pulling out the hand sanitizer and tissues more than ever this holiday season in an effort to ward off swine flu and the seasonal flu.

In yet another sign of how lives are changing in the fight against H1N1, mall Santas are being asked this year to get vaccinated, use hand sanitizer often, wash their beards regularly and bleach and wash their white gloves nightly, according to a story in the Vancouver Sun.

On Monday, the American Cancer Society was seeing red courtesy of a new set of government guidelines for breast cancer screenings that sent shock waves through the organization -- and the entire country.

Recently, the American Cancer Society backpedaled on screenings for some screenings. But they've remained consistent on their position on mammograms.

A government panel consisting of doctors and scientists has issued their guidelines for mammograms, stating most women should skip the screening until age 50 -- something that sharply conflicts the American Cancer Society's decades old recommendation for all women age 40 and over to be screened annually.

If the waistlines of Americans continue to expand, the U.S. will fork out about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018. That will use up about 21% of health care spending, according to the first analysis that examines just how heavy the price tag of being overweight is.

The projections accompany another startling could-be statistic: in 10 years 43% of American adults -- more than four out of every 10 -- will be obese.

This report comes as the country struggles to find ways to curb medical costs and Congress debates health care legislation.

Whether you're a child rushed to an emergency room for care or an adult who has put off preventive medical care, if you don't have health insurance, you are more likely to die. That's been confirmed by three different health studies.

• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine found that uninsured children who are hospitalized are 60% more likely to die.

• Harvard University found that large numbers of uninsured adults have chronic illnesses that are undiagnosed and under-treated, which means they are not getting treatments that could prevent strokes, heart attacks, amputations and kidney failure.

Americans are paying billions for what experts call "treatable illnesses." But the exorbitant amount we're paying, a new report says, is growing exponentially.

Currently, the U.S. is spending more per capita on health care than any other nation. And much of this excess spending is going to treat preventable diseases linked to smoking and obesity.

As the health care reform debate wages on, the 20th anniversary edition of America's Health Rankings, a 20-year scorecard of our nation's health has been published in partnership by United Health Foundation, American Public Health Association and Partnership for Prevention.

Obesity is projected to be the biggest and most costly public health issue of the next generation. It's also the one that's the easier to prevent.

You'll find numerous blogs out there threatening jail time for the uninsured, but don't believe them. This is just another scare tactic to prevent health insurance reform.

While it's true there are penalties for those who choose not to get insurance, that penalty is 2.5% of one's income and the penalties will be collected by the IRS. Jail time is not likely. In fact criminal prosecutions by the IRS are rare. Of 156 million individual tax returns filed in 2008, only 100 resulted in criminal prosecutions for those who willfully defrauded the system. The penalty will only impact those who are wealthy enough to pay for insurance and choose not to pay. The intent is that this penalty will be used to pay for the medical needs of those who choose not to get insurance.

Critics of health-care insurance overhaul legislation, currently being debated in the U.S. Senate, have charged that any change to the existing system will result in greater numbers of unhappy patients. A new survey of satisfaction among consumers with health coverage, however, shows promise that it is possible to cover everyone and still have satisfied patients.