Kathleen Sebelius

So what's with all the pens? Why did President Obama use 22 pens to sign the healthcare legislation Tuesday? He was continuing a long-standing White House tradition for approving important legislation. The pens are "a way of giving a very meaningful memento to the people who played a significant role in passing the legislation," said Mark Peterson, a professor of public policy and political science at UCLA. Obama kept a pen for himself after signing the bill, and 19 pens were given out as mementos.

A series of tornadoes and high winds pummeled the Midwest on Sunday, killing an estimated 22 people in three states as storms left a swath of destruction a quarter-mile wide in some places. In Missouri, Lawrence County Sheriff Doug Seneker estimated a dozen people were killed when a tornado careened through the southwest part of the state. A Pierce City police officer described the downtown area as "wiped out," Seneker said.

Call it healthcare reform meets the law of unintended consequences. No sooner did new rules governing child-only medical coverage kick in than insurers abruptly stopped offering new policies rather than cover children with preexisting conditions. In fact, some companies pulled out before the Sept. 23 rule went into effect. (The actions don’t affect children who are currently covered.) The Los Angeles Times reports on which companies pulled out in "Big health insurers to stop selling new child-only policies.

Even states can get performance bonuses, at least when it comes to moving kids from the "uninsured" to the "insured" list. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that 15 states will be getting a little something extra in their end-of-the-year stockings for their effectiveness at providing health insurance to kids through Medicaid. Which states? Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Washington state and Wisconsin.

Dr. Donald Berwick, the Harvard pediatrician whom President Obama tapped to head the Medicare and Medicaid programs, will step down next week in the face of staunch Republican opposition to his permanent appointment to implement Obama's healthcare law. Berwick, a longtime advocate for patient safety, has been widely hailed by doctors, hospital officials and other healthcare leaders for his trailblazing work to improve the quality and efficiency of...

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland received a standing ovation Saturday night when he predicted that his state will again tip the race for the White House -- this time delivering it to Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama. Strickland, noting that he had backed Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination, said she would want him to deliver a message. "Barack Obama is the nominee of our party.

In a move hailed by planned-parenting groups and opposed by some religious organizations, health insurance companies will be required to provide women free birth control, in keeping with new Obama administration guidelines. The rules, called "historic" by the Department of Health and Human Services, also say that insurance companies must provide women with other preventive services free of charge. Monday's new quidelines follow the recent advice from an independent panel of doctors and health experts at the Institute of Medicine, which recommended last month that all approved contraception methods -- including the "morning-after pill" -- be provided without requiring co-pays.

Re "Silencing Sebelius," Editorial, May 18 Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishopscondemned Rep. Paul D. Ryan's (R-Wis.) budget as contrary to Roman Catholic social doctrine. Also, dozens of faculty members at Georgetown University issued an open letter protesting Ryan's speech at the school. Yet The Times did not editorialize on this attempt to "silence" Ryan. At issue here is not the silencing of Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, but a protest against a Catholic institution providing a forum to a Catholic who has publicly challenged the doctrines of her own faith.

A federal court judge has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to lift controversial restrictions on the so-called morning-after pill, saying females of all ages should have unimpeded access to emergency birth control. In a ruling released Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman directed the FDA to make levonorgestrel-based contraceptives available over the counter, and without a prescription. The ruling overturns a 2011 decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requiring that girls under age 17 obtain a prescription for the Plan B One-Step contraceptive or its equivalents In his strongly worded ruling, Korman called Sebelius' decision “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent.” No serious health risks have been associated with the drug's use among adults and children, Korman wrote, and even the FDA acknowledged that the drug's “safety and efficacy in the pediatric population have been established.” The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which argued that restrictions placed on the drug imposed unreasonable delays for women of all ages.