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(Lori Wensley)/KFF HEALTH/TNS

As insurers struggle with GLP-1 drug costs, some seek to wean patients off

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

After losing 50 pounds on the injectable weight loss medication Zepbound, Kyra Wensley received a surprising letter from her pharmacy benefit manager in April.

Her request for coverage had been denied, the letter said, because she’d had a body mass index of less than 35 when she started Zepbound. The 25-year-old who lives in New York had been...Read more

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images North America/TNS

He built Michigan's Medicaid work requirement system. Now he's warning other states

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It was March 2020, and Robert Gordon was about to kick some 80,000 people off health insurance.

As the Michigan state health director, he had spent the past year, and some $30 million in state tax dollars, trying to avoid that very thing.

Gordon was a Democrat, a veteran of the Obama administration, and he did not want people to lose the ...Read more

Tero Vesalainen/Dreamstime/TNS

Ask the Pediatrician: The effects of caffeine on kids: A parent's guide

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

A cup of coffee or tea in the morning or an afternoon caffeine pick-me-up is usually fine for most adults. But parents might want to take a closer look at caffeine and other ingredients in the drinks their kids love.

Many popular beverages that kids go to for quick energy have a surprising amount of caffeine. Some drinks have other stimulants, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

New research reveals a link between excessive alcohol and fatty liver disease

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Mayo Clinic researchers have pinpointed how excessive alcohol consumption contributes to fatty liver disease, a condition that affects more than one in three people in the U.S.

Also known as Metabolic Dysfunction Associated Steatotic Liver Disease, it is a long-lasting disease that can lead to type 2 diabetes and even liver cancer. Excessive ...Read more

What men can do about their (greater) risks from dementia

Almost 4% of men and just over 4% of women age 65 and older have been diagnosed with dementia. But how dementia plays out isn't evenly experienced between men and women. Men have substantially higher rates of hospitalization, hospice stay, and death after a dementia diagnosis than women do.

A new study published in JAMA Neurology looked at ...Read more

Weight Loss Isn't The Cause Behind An Odd Globus Sensation

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and immediately changed my diet and exercise regimen. I was able to lose 17 pounds in about two months but have started to experience a feeling of something being stuck in my throat. Could the sudden weight loss have brought this on? I was sent to get an ultrasound on my thyroid, and it ...Read more

Ian Allenden/Dreamstime.com/TNS

Common artificial sweetener linked to worse cancer treatment outcomes in Pitt study

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sucralose, a common artificial sweetener, may be preventing the body from responding to cancer immunotherapy, a new study out of the University of Pittsburgh finds.

The results come as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services turns its attention toward ultraprocessed foods, with efforts to ban artificial food dyes and sweeteners. The ...Read more

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

Blue states hold on to public health dollars while red states lose out

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

After the Trump administration slashed billions in state and local public health funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this year, the eventual impact on states split sharply along political lines.

Democratic-led states that sued to block the cuts kept much of their funding, while Republican-led states lost ...Read more

Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of the Governor/TNS

Hochul fends of RFK Jr. COVID vaccine limits for New Yorkers with executive order

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed an executive order ensuring continued access to COVID-19 vaccines in New York after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took steps to limit availability of the shots.

The governor’s measure declares a health emergency and authorizes pharmacists to continue providing the vaccines to anyone who...Read more

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

People can't get COVID vaccines as cases surge. Anger is building against Trump

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

LOS ANGELES — Every year around this time, like clockwork, Marty Lazniarz would plan to get his regular COVID-19 vaccine — essential protection before heading out on a trip.

But this year, trying to get his routine shot has been anything but.

The 70-year-old retiree from Long Beach said it has been frustratingly difficult to get a COVID ...Read more

Leila Navidi/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Dizzying problem: Minnesota clinics treating more vertigo, imbalance

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MINNEAPOLIS -- An aging population, still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, is seeking more treatment for dizziness and imbalance in Minnesota.

Clinics specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of dizziness have opened or expanded across the Twin Cities, and their appointments are filling up. Associated Hearing Care hired a specialist ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

On Nutrition: A good reason to eat leftovers

Health Advice / Nutrition /

Karen H. who reads this column in the Albany (Oregon) Democrat-Herald, writes: “Hello Barbara, I recently saw an article about how carbohydrates in rice, pasta and potatoes change when refrigerated. I can’t find the original article but one says, ‘When rice is refrigerated, it undergoes certain changes that can impact its nutritional ...Read more

Looking Back At Old-Fashioned Ways Of 'Curing' Syphilis

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I read that in the 1700s, animal blood was transfused into humans to cure syphilis. Is this true? -- T.U.

ANSWER: The story is a bit more complicated. Transfusion from animals into humans was certainly done, with published reports dating from 1667, sometimes to treat fever and sometimes purely for scientific knowledge with paid ...Read more

Is it a stretch to stand up for yourself?

Various studies have found that after menopause, 38% to 70% of women have high blood pressure, and 30% to 36% of women develop insulin resistance, elevated glucose and diabetes. Add to that the fact that 43% of postmenopausal women are obese and you've got health challenges that can seem daunting.

But simple changes in your habits can help ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

COVID-19 boosters halted in Georgia amid federal uncertainty

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

ATLANTA — Big pharmacies and public health clinics in Georgia are not yet giving this year’s COVID-19 booster shots, or are putting new restrictions in place, amid vaccine uncertainty under Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy.

Doctors hope the confusion will be resolved in a couple of weeks, when a federal ...Read more

Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images North America/TNS

Do pediatricians recommend vaccines to make a profit? There's not much money in it

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

It makes sense to approach some marketing efforts with skepticism. Scams, deepfakes, and deceptive social media posts are common, with people you don’t know seeking to profit from your behavior.

But should people extend this same skepticism to pediatricians who advise vaccines for children? Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. ...Read more

Eric Harkleroad/KFF Health News/TNS

Changes at NIH give political appointees greater power to fund or block research

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The Trump administration has given notice that political appointees, rather than scientists, will ultimately decide who gets grant money from the world’s largest biomedical research funder — the federal government’s National Institutes of Health.

In an Aug. 7 executive order, President Donald Trump announced that political officers would ...Read more

Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: The CDC is under siege. The poor will pay the price

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

The recent ouster of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez and the resignations of top officials mark not just an institutional crisis but the latest chapter in a political war on evidence-based public health. This purge is not reform. It is the culmination of a right-wing assault that began in President Donald Trump�...Read more

Treatment For Staghorn Calculi Includes Lithotripsy And More

Health Advice / Keith Roach /

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 77-year-old female who recently had an abdominal and pelvic cat scan to rule out diverticulitis, and it came back showing a left staghorn calculus measured at 2-by-3 centimeters. This wasn't present in 2019. I have gas, gas pains, and diarrhea that is typical of IBS, which I have had for years. What causes this calculus,...Read more

HEPA, HEPA, hooray!

The "State of the Air" 2025 report reveals that 46% of Americans -- 156.1 million people -- live in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone and particle pollution -- especially super-small particles called PM2.5.

Short-term exposure (up to 24-hours) to these small particles from traffic, construction, industry or soot is associated with increased ...Read more

 

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