Making news and waves in health care

Health Populi, Jane Sarasohn-Kahn While there’s little evidence that the short-term impact of the Affordable Care Act has limited job growth or driven most employers to drop health insurance plans, the ACA has spawned a “cottage industry” of health companies since 2010, according to PwC. Read more…

Time Money, Kara Brandeisky Lingering winter cold means pollen levels could rise quickly—and so could your medical costs. Read more…

Tell Us News Digest, Cindy Jovanoski After undergoing a double mastectomy two years ago to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer, Angelina Jolie recently went through yet another surgery, this time to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. Read more… INDUSTRY BLOGS

Insurance News Net, Staff Writer People in the United States increasingly shopped for vasectomies in the first quarter of the New Year. Read more…

Time Money, Kara Brandeisky Faced with a genetic predisposition to cancer, Angelina Jolie opted for a preventive surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes. But can other women afford to do the same? Read more…

FierceHealthFinance, Ron Shinkman Prices for common medical procedures at hospitals vary widely by city, according to a new examination by the online publication Gawker. Costs can differ by 200 percent or more. Read more…

Houston Chronicle, John-Henry Perera Not all appendixes, bunions and tonsils are removed equally in the U.S., according to data from HealthSparq and Gawker. Read more…

When you want to buy something - a lunch, a shirt or a plane ticket - you can usually find the price of the item on a menu, tag or online listing. It’s not as easy when it comes to health care. Read more…