While medical students are busy learning how to provide care, their education does not seem to include much about the big picture of health care policy. A University of Minnesota doctor surveyed the state's medical students last year and found fewer than half could say they understood the basics of the country's new health care overhaul.

Several companies have put their prototypes online for the public to test. The health insurance exchange is a cornerstone of the federal health reform law and is meant to give people looking to enroll an easy way to compare and purchase plans.

The Minnetonka-based health insurer has agreed to share more information with federal regulators to root out illicit Medicare billings. UnitedHealth EVP Richard Migliori said, “There are mutual interests here in doing a better job at detecting what’s probably some $80 billion-plus per year in fraudulent payments across private and public sectors." WellPoint Inc and Humana Inc are also participating in the partnership.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be in the Twin Cities on the two-year anniversary of the landmark health care legislation. Sebelius will highlight insurance policies that she says discriminate against women. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is using the law's anniversary in a fundraising appeal built around her goal of repealing it.

HealthPartners and Park Nicollet have agreed to a consolidation. HealthPartners is an insurer which - like Park Nicollet - operates dozens of clinics and one of the Twin Cities major hospitals. It still needs federal approval, but the deal would be Minnesota's largest health care merger in years.

The Minnetonka-based health insurer brought in more than $100 billion last year. The Star Tribune reports UnitedHealth is among just 22 publicly traded companies and the first in Minnesota to reach that milestone. Read more ...

Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group's third-quarter net income jumped 23 percent, beating expectations, as preparations for retiring Baby Boomers started to pay off for the nation's largest health insurer, the Associated Press reports. UnitedHealth also raised its 2012 earnings forecast.

The largest U.S. health insurer is increasing its quarterly dividend by more than 30 percent and authorizing a new plan to buy back 110 million shares. Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group says the actions reflect solid growth across its enterprise.