Core and Group Health

The Arkansas Senate voted Thursday to prohibit most abortions if a heartbeat is detected, ignoring warnings from opponents that banning the procedure as early as six weeks into a pregnancy would invite lawsuits.

Abortion rights supporters and opponents packed a Washington state House hearing Thursday and debated a measure that would require insurers to pay for the procedure.

President Barack Obama will let his jobs council expire this week without renewing its charter, winding down one source of input from the business community even as unemployment remains stubbornly high.

Aetna's fourth-quarter net income sank 49 percent as higher medical costs squeezed profitability for the insurer's commercial health coverage, and several one-time expenses chipped away at the bottom line.

J. Matthew Royal succeeds Nicholas Desiderio, who is retiring after more than 22 years with the firm.

Aetna Inc. will become on Thursday the latest big health insurer to report how it wrapped up 2012 and how it expects results to shake out this year, as the industry prepares for the start of expanded coverage and new taxes under the health care overhaul.