Single payer health: it’s only fair

Bernie Sanders: US healthcare is grossly distorted by waste and profit, while millions go uninsured. Americans deserve full universal coverage

What we’re not being told about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan

Dean Baker: The mainstream media has failed to report that the Ryan plan is a privatisation programme that will hand $30tn to insurers

Michael Tomasky: Defending Medicare from the Republicans is not just about healthcare, but the future of America itself

Open thread: Walter Breuning, who was the world's oldest man, has died aged 114, leaving some tips for longevity. We'd like to hear yours

Male, tall, Asian-American, at least 65 years old with children . . . how a New York Times/Gallup poll tracked down the embodiment of true happiness

Rightwingers Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann scorn US first lady's effort to give tax breaks to mothers for breast pumps

Suspected illegal backstreet 'surgeons' operated on 20-year-old who complained of chest pains after buttock procedure

Yvonne Roberts: Describing a surrogate as a 'gestational carrier' is a new low in motherhood's commercialisation

Research in rats suggests that stimulating a nerve in the brain could help stop persistent ringing in the ears

Ex-US vice-president says his battery-powered heart pump is a 'wondrous device', and claims he didn't mind Darth Vader jibes