According to an online survey in December, the majority of American consumers rank the popular NLM Web site for consumer health, MedlinePlus, and others created by the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Cancer Institute and the Department of Veterans Affairs higher in user satisfaction than similar sites sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and insurance companies.

The federal Web sites ranked first with 79 percent customer satisfaction. Pharmaceutical sites came in second (78 percent), followed by hospitals (73 percent) and insurance companies (64 percent).

The survey was conducted by ForeSee.