Today’s editor’s picks

Half the people enrolled in new cost-conscious health plans plan to switch if they have the chance. A WSJ writer looks at the claim that one in 166 U.S. children have autism. Cancer patients are unconcerned about physicians having ties to drug companies. Doctors appear to be abandoning traditional fields to take on the business of beauty. Time magazine tackles the year in medicine from A to Z.

****

Half in New Health Plans Want to Switch (Washington Post)

People in a new kind of health plan that makes consumers pay for a bigger share of their care appear to be more cost-conscious than those in traditional plans, but half say they would switch if they had the chance, according to a survey released yesterday.

How Many Kids Have Autism? (Wall Street Journal -- open to non-subscribers)

Several skeptical Numbers Guy readers have suggested I look into an alarming claim: that one in 166 U.S. children has autism.

Most Cancer Patients Unconcerned About Doctors’ Ties to Drug Firms (Washington Post)

The vast majority of cancer patients participating in studies of experimental drugs do not care if the doctor running the study has financial ties to the drug’s maker, according to a new survey that undermines “full disclosure” as a central tenet of clinical research.

More Doctors Turning to the Business of Beauty (New York Times)

In her three years as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Brooklyn, Dr. Ngozi Nwankpa-Keshinro delivered several hundred babies, conducted several thousand pelvic exams and diagnosed everything from infections to infertility But this year, with a little additional training, she has entered a new field: cosmetic medicine.

The Year in Medicine from A to Z (Time)

It was a year of old scourges and new drugs, from the first vaccine that prevents cancer to a bug that spoiled an entire crop of California spinach.