A new study documents the increasing crush of patients turning to free public clinics in the Houston area. Officials there are worried because they expect even more people to seek care when the Affordable Care Act, the federal health law, takes effect in a little over a year.

Linda Wertheimer speaks to Andrew MacAskill, Bloomberg News India correspondent, about New Delhi's failure to adopt a new law that would have allowed multinational retailers into the country and, hopefully, transform an inefficient and outdated industry. It's a huge political setback for the government, and a huge disappointment for retailers who've been licking their chops at the prospect of tapping India's consumers. But Walmart still has plans to expand in India.

The gurus of the annual fashion palette have uttered their decree on what color will dominate clothing, accessories and home decor next year. According to the Pantone Color Institute, the world needs a color to recharge us and move us forward. Tangerine Tango, a reddish-orange hue, "emanates heat and energy," says a Pantone executive.

Efforts to cut federal spending are targeting a program that gives higher Medicare reimbursements to small hospitals in rural areas. Some observers say the program has gotten so big, it's propping up hospitals that are neither critical to a community nor isolated.

New York University professor Nouriel Roubini says Europe's debt troubles are so profound, the continent is falling into a "recession that will get worse and worse."

When the euro was set up in the late 1990s, the Stability and Growth Pact clearly spelled out limits for deficits and debt. But nearly everyone broke those rules, including France and Germany. Now that European leaders are trying to create new rules, the question is — how will they enforce them?