Category: Health

The Medicare wars are back, and almost no one in Washington is surprised. This time it’s Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to maim the very popular federal health program that covers 64 million seniors and people with disabilities. In the past, Republicans have successfully pinned Democrats as the threat to Medicare. Why do politicians persistently […]

The oil washed ashore every day, globs of tarlike ooze blighting sugar-white sand beaches. Rodney Boblitt’s job was to report it. A special agent for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, he was assigned to patrol 14 miles of Panhandle beaches on an all-terrain vehicle, alerting cleanup crews to new slicks from the BP Deepwater […]

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to [email protected]. Were there already viruses on Earth when the first living cells appeared billions of years ago? – Aayush A., age 16, India How life on Earth started has puzzled scientists […]

The 39th Expert Review Committee (ERC) for Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization has expressed optimism that the Nigerian programme is on course to stop the transmission of the circulating Variant Polio Virus (cVPV2) with ‘impressive progress’ recorded. The ERC meets periodically to evaluate progress toward the attainment of a polio-free Nigeria. The monitoring body comprising […]

The African Development Bank Group (www.AfDB.org) and the Islamic Development Bank have signed a joint partnership action plan for the development of the pharmaceutical industry sector within their African member countries. The plan offers a new framework for strengthened cooperation and mutual development priorities, with a strong emphasis on boosting the continent’s health defense systems. […]

Senators are eying the growing shortage of health care workers in the United States as one of the few problems where there is room for bipartisan solutions, even in a deeply divided Congress gearing up for a presidential election cycle. The shortage that’s only worsened since the pandemic is a prescription for skyrocketing costs, suffering, […]

Mark Kreidler About four years ago, Dr. Gene Dorio sat on the ethics committee of a Southern California hospital whose administrators insisted they could decide whether to disconnect a ventilator from an unconscious patient — even though the man’s wife and adult children wanted to continue life support. The problem, Dorio told California lawmakers last […]

When billionaire Mark Cuban announced his attack on the pharmaceutical industry and its high-priced drugs in January 2021, it was met with cheers. His new company — the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co., known as Cost Plus Drugs — has the “lowest prices on meds anywhere,” he said. The serial entrepreneur and owner of […]

Bella Nyman has struggled with her mental health since age 7, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety. Nyman said she was afraid to tell her parents she had thoughts of suicide. Looking back, a mental health screening might have helped her to stop hiding her struggles from adults and peers, she said. […]

WASHINGTON — Dr. Timothy McAvoy, an internist from Waukesha, Wisconsin, held his infant granddaughter Tuesday while standing in the Longworth House Office Building, waiting to talk to a congressional aide about increasing Medicare pay for doctors. Facing a highly partisan Congress where Republicans have vowed to cut federal spending, McAvoy hoped his Midwestern charm, along […]