A Physician Travels to South Asia Seeking Enduring Lessons From the Eradication of Smallpox Céline Gounder Smallpox was certified eradicated in 1980, but I first learned about the disease’s twisty, storied history in 1996 while interning at the World Health Organization. As a college student in the 1990s, I was fascinated by the sheer […]
Category: Health News
Health News 2024-03-30
The Burden of Getting Medical Care Can Exhaust Older Patients Judith Graham Susanne Gilliam, 67, was walking down her driveway to get the mail in January when she slipped and fell on a patch of black ice. Pain shot through her left knee and ankle. After summoning her husband on her phone, with difficulty […]
Health News 2024-03-29
As AI Eye Exams Prove Their Worth, Lessons for Future Tech Emerge Hannah Norman, KFF Health News Christian Espinoza, director of a Southern California drug-treatment provider, recently began employing a powerful new assistant: an artificial intelligence algorithm that can perform eye exams with pictures taken by a retinal camera. It makes quick diagnoses, without […]
Health News 2024-03-28
Overdosing on Chemo: A Common Gene Test Could Save Hundreds of Lives Each Year Arthur Allen One January morning in 2021, Carol Rosen took a standard treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Three gruesome weeks later, she died in excruciating pain from the very drug meant to prolong her life. Rosen, a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher, […]
Health News 2024-03-27
At Stake in Mifepristone Case: Abortion, FDA’s Authority, and Return to 1873 Obscenity Law Sarah Varney Lawyers from the conservative Christian group that won the case to overturn Roe v. Wade are returning to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday in pursuit of an urgent priority: shutting down access to abortion pills for women […]
Health News 2024-03-26
A Mom’s $97,000 Question: How Was Her Baby’s Air-Ambulance Ride Not Medically Necessary? Molly Castle Work Sara England was putting together Ghostbusters costumes for Halloween when she noticed her baby wasn’t doing well. Her 3-month-old son, Amari Vaca, had undergone open-heart surgery two months before, so she called his cardiologist, who recommended getting him […]
Health News 2024-03-25
California’s Expanded Health Coverage for Immigrants Collides With Medicaid Reviews Jasmine Aguilera, El Tímpano OAKLAND — Medi-Cal health coverage kicked in for Antonio Abundis just when the custodian needed it most. Shortly after Abundis transitioned from limited to full-scope coverage in 2022 under California’s expansion of Medi-Cal to older residents without legal immigration status, […]
Health News 2024-03-24
Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirements Costing Taxpayers Millions Despite Low Enrollment Andy Miller and Renuka Rayasam Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for a conservative alternative to Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion has cost taxpayers at least $26 million so far, with more than 90% going toward administrative and consulting costs rather than medical care for low-income people. […]
Health News 2024-03-23
Telehealth Sites Promise Cure for ‘Male Menopause’ Despite FDA Ban on Off-Label Ads Michael Scaturro Online stores sprang up during the covid-19 pandemic’s telehealth boom touting testosterone as a cure-all for men’s age-related illnesses — despite FDA rules issued years ago restricting such “low testosterone” advertising. In ads on Google, Facebook, and elsewhere, testosterone […]
Health News 2024-03-22
Rapid Rise in Syphilis Hits Native Americans Hardest Cecilia Nowell From her base in Gallup, New Mexico, Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who crisscross the sprawling Navajo Nation searching for patients who have tested positive for or been exposed to a disease once nearly eradicated in the U.S.: syphilis. Infection […]