A Delightful Debunking of Celebrity Health "Tips"

Here's what we're checking out today:

Celebrity Woo: We're loving this British "Sense about Science" list that debunks celebrities' favorite health fads, like hologram-studded bracelets that are supposed to improve health. Reuters' Kate Kelland has the story.

Rural Health: California's rural communities are facing an alarming shortage of doctors, reports David Freed for the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting and the San Francisco Chronicle. You can check out the second day of his series, which focuses on those communities' attempts to recruit doctors, here. (Don't forget our tips for covering rural health, too.)

End of Life Planning: The Obama administration abruptly reversed course on a controversial new Medicare regulation, inaccurately tagged with the "death panel" label, that would have reimbursed doctors for discussing end-of-life care with their Medicare patients during annual exams, Robert Pear reports for the New York Times.

Smoking: An unexpected racial issue has cropped up as the FDA considers banning menthol cigarettes: about 80 percent of African Americans prefer smoking menthols. Menthol cigarette makers, not surprisingly, are gearing up for a fight, the Wall St. Journal's David Kesmodel reports.

Uninsured: Florida Health News' Carol Gentry reports on the utter failure of Cover Florida, former Gov. Charlie Crist's "market-based" plan to insure Floridians.