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A California bill would have made free condoms available for high schoolers, but it was vetoed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom because of cost.

California has a budget deficit of $30 billion, Newsom noted in his veto of Senate Bill 541....

Pharmaceutical companies that make the 10 prescription drugs chosen to be the first for price negotiations for Medicare patients have agreed to talks with the government.

The Biden administration announced Tuesday that the drugmakers, including Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson, will take part in price negotiations despite ongoing lawsuits over this same requirement, N...

The Biden administration is allocating $232.2 million in grants to help stem suicides and improve behavioral health care for at-risk groups.

Suicide is happening at an “alarming” rate, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Last year alone, nearly 50,000 Americans died by suicide, up 2.6% from 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ...

A new survey of U.S. doctors specializing in the care of transgender kids finds they're alarmed by pressure to limit patient care, threats to personal and patient safety, and the possibility of legal action.

“The increasing number of bans on gender-affirming care in the U.S. and the negative impact on pediatric endocrinologists may lead to areas in the country without access to ped...

The two "freezing" episodes that Sen. Mitch McConnell experienced recently weren't strokes or seizures, the Capitol physician said in a new letter released Tuesday.

“My examination of you following your August 30, 2023, brief episode included several medical evaluations: brain MRI imaging, EEG study and consultations...

The Biden administration on Tuesday named the first 10 medicines that will be subject to price negotiations between Medicare and participating drug companies.

The list represents the first step in a landmark program aimed at reducing the government's drug spending, and potentially U.S. drug prices in general. However, six major drug companies are already challenging the program in court.<...

The federal government recently stopped pandemic-related emergency food aid, leaving perhaps 2 million more Americans without enough to eat.

Emergency allotments in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, ended in March in all states that hadn't already cut them.

After this temporary increase in SNAP benefits ended, recipients experienced a 2...

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo was named on Wednesday to become the next head of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a job most recently held by Dr. Anthony Fauci, well known for his work on ...

The President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that's long successfully provided relief to people with AIDS around the world, will now be housed within the U.S. State Department.

The move comes after years of pressure by anti-abortion groups and some Republican members of Congress to attach abortion-related limits on U.S. health support overseas, including PEPFAR. ...

Airlines will now be required to make bathrooms on their planes more accessible for the disabled, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.

The new rule, authorized under the

  • Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporter
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  • July 27, 2023
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  • When they need health care, Americans can be slapped with surprise medical costs because of loopholes in the law and “junk fees,” according to the White House.

    The Biden administration is taking action on several fronts to deal with these unexpected costs.

    “Evading the law and playing games to charge crazy, outrageous prices has to end,” President Joe Biden said in remarks o...

    New federal initiatives could help save Americans money on health care costs.

    President Joe Biden announced plans Friday to target surprise medical bills, scam insurance and third-party credit cards and loans that carry high interest charges, the Associated Press reported.

    Limiting “junk” insurance plans is a key initiative. These are short-term policies that people som...

    An Arkansas law banning gender transition care for minors, which has been on pause since 2021, was struck down on Tuesday after a U.S. federal judge ruled that it discriminated against transgender people.

    The ruling applies only in Arkansas, but it is the first of what legal scholars expect will be addressed in courts nationwide for years to come.

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • June 21, 2023
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  • The White House announced Friday that a former Obama administration official with extensive experience in federal and state health services will be named the next leader of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Former North Carolina Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen comes with credentials that shou...

    A former Obama administration official with extensive experience in federal and state health services could be the next leader of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Former North Carolina Health Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen is the likely pick, according to sources with knowledge of the plan, the

    Americans will continue to be able to get free preventive health care services -- at least for now.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans temporarily blocked a lower court decision on Monday, pausing a ruling that challenged an Affordable Care Act provision that all health plans cover certain care, the New York Times reported.

    The earlier ruling i...

    The U.S. National Institutes of Health could get a new leader in Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, the Boston cancer surgeon who's led the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) since last fall.

    On Monday President Joe Biden formally nominated Bertagnolli to the post, which has be...

    Artificial intelligence (AI) research and development should stop until its use and technology are properly regulated, an international group of doctors and public health experts said.

    Certain types of AI pose an “existential threat to humanity,” the experts wrote in the May 9 issue of the journal

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • May 10, 2023
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  • The U.S. federal government has committed $5 million to study three existing and planned safe drug injection sites to see if they help prevent overdoses and whether they may offer savings in the health and criminal justice systems.

    At these overdose prevention centers (OPCs), people can use heroin or other illegal drugs under supervision so they can potentially be revived if they overdose...

    In U.S. states that provide financial assistance for low-income families, the difference is evident in children's brains, researchers report.

    Their study found disparities in brain structure between children from high-income households compared to low-income households. However, the disparity was more than a third lower in states offering greater cash assistance to low-income families, c...

    When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a woman's constitutional right to abortion in June, internet searches for information related to abortion and contraception surged.

    Searches for abortion-related terms increased much more in U.S. states where access to reproductive health care faced imminent restrictions, according to a new study.

    Lead researcher

  • Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • May 3, 2023
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  • The U.S. National Institutes of Health could get a new leader in Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, the Boston cancer surgeon who has led the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) since last fall.

    The White House plans to nominate Bertagnolli to the post,...

    Could taxing soda cut down on the consumption of sugary drinks?

    That's exactly what happened when a local “soda tax” was launched in Oakland, Calif., according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco.

    Purchases of sugar-sweetened beverages dropped nearly 27% between July 2017 and December 2019, after the one-cent-per-ounce tax began.

    “These result...

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to put the pedal to the metal in America's transition to clean electric vehicles.

    The EPA today announced proposed federal emissions standards aimed at accelerating the move to electric cars and trucks.

    Once adopted, the standards are expected to create a massive improvement in air pollution across the nation, particularly in smog-choke...

    A proposed bill in Florida would prevent children from learning about menstruation in elementary school, even though some girls get their first periods in those years.

    The bill would also ban other sex education topics through the fifth grade.

    Sponsored by Republican Florida state Rep. Stan McClain, the bill advanced out of the House Education Quality Subcommittee last week, CBS...

    Since it began in 2004, a global effort led by the United States to combat HIV has dramatically increased the number of people it helps, a new government report shows.

    In its report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the number of people receiving lifesaving HIV treatment through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has increased 300 tim...

    U.S. water utilities will be required to remove certain “forever chemicals” from drinking water as the Biden administration sets first-ever limits on perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, better known as known as PFAS.

    Nearly all Americans have PFAS in their bloodstream. The toxic chemicals are found in an enormous range of goods from dental floss to waterproof clothing. The c...

    The United States is one of the few developed nations without federal paid sick leave protection, owing at least in part to concerns about potential harms to business, according to a new study.

    Yet, researchers studying the issue found that access to paid sick leave could have benefits for businesses.

    Among them: fewer occupational injuries, less spread of contagious disease, fewer ...

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's heavily criticized tobacco program promised changes on Friday, including a five-year strategic plan to better outline priorities.

    "As we enter this era of declining use of combustible tobacco and continued innovation in the e-cigarette industry, the societal concerns are not subtle," FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in an agency news release...

    Changes in U.S. abortion laws have prompted confusion among women about medication abortion and emergency contraception, or the “morning-after” pill.

    A new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) underscores this lack of awareness about what's legal or not from state to state, including whether a full abortion ban is in place or abortions are allowed.

    Pollsters surveyed a na...

    To fight an urgent opioid overdose crisis, a Canadian province took an unusual step on Tuesday.

    British Columbia decriminalized small amounts of several hard drugs.

    This includes up to 2.5 grams of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl, the province's Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said in a statement

    Stung by recent food safety scandals -- most notably last year's infant formula shortage, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it is creating a new unit devoted to food safety.

    The newly dubbed Human Foods Program will wield wide-ranging powers.

    "We're proposing the creation of a unified, newly envisioned organization, called the Human Foods Program, that el...

    A U.S. Food and Drug Administration official who has led the agency's food policy efforts since 2018 announced his resignation on Wednesday.

    Frank Yiannas was also among the top officials leading the agency response to last year's infant formula shortage.

    "Today, I informed [FDA] Commissioner ...

    When it comes to tobacco control, some states do a far better job than others of preventing and reducing smoking.

    A new report from the American Lung Association (ALA) notes that California, Maine, Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., are doing the best job of putting proven tobacco control policies in place.

    Conversely, those who have the most need to enact policies are Alabama, Mi...

    The pandemic brought the utility of testing wastewater to gauge viral spread to the fore.

    Now, experts at the independent National Academies of Sciences (NAS) have issued a report outlining a roadmap for the broader surveillance of Americans' wastewater.

    The report "reviews the usefulness of comm...

    The number of Americans who had trouble paying their medical bills dropped precipitously between 2019 and 2021, and funds from the American Rescue Plan and other federal pandemic relief programs may have been a reason why.

    Overall, 10.8% of Americans responding to a federal survey in 2021 said they had had problems covering medical bills that year, down from 14% in 2019, according to rese...

    Gas stoves could face new emissions standards or even be banned because of their link to indoor air pollutants and childhood asthma, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

    The federal agency will open public comment on gas cooking stoves and their hazards sometime this winter, Bloomberg News reported.

    “This is a hidden hazard,” agency commissio...

    Medicare Advantage ads that are confusing or misleading could be banned under a new rule that was proposed Wednesday by the Biden administration to protect seniors.

    Nearly half of all seniors or people with disabilities who are enrolled in the Medicare program through the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have Medicare Advantage plans.

    “CMS released a proposed...

    The state of California is suing several companies for their role in manufacturing "forever chemicals."

    The lawsuit filed Thursday also claims that the companies, including 3M and DuPont, covered up the harm their products, commonly known as PFAS, were causing to the...

    U.S. voters spoke up for abortion rights Tuesday through ballot measures in four states in what was seen as a win for abortion rights supporters.

    In Michigan, California and Vermont, voters approved measures that would amend their state constitutions to protect abortion, about four months after the U.S. Supreme Court removed the constitutional right to the procedure, the New York Time...

    Transgender minors in Florida are now one step closer to not being able to get medical care to affirm their gender.

    In a heated hearing on Friday, the Florida Board of Medicine voted to begin drafting a rule banning puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for trans youths younger than 18.

    This was the next step in a movement that began in April when Gov. Ron DeSantis began e...

    Child tax credits had a huge impact in U.S. households that struggle to afford food.

    And after those credits ended, many...

    The federal government is pumping millions more dollars into an effort to expand the United States' network of community mental health centers.

    Up to 15 states now can apply for $1 million grants to help plan new

  • Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
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  • October 18, 2022
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  • Do the majority of Americans want government to make sure the products they buy are free of harmful chemicals?

    Yes, a new survey shows, and they are even willing to pay more to get that assurance of safety.

    “At a time when most issues are politically polarized, the issue of keeping people ...

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken a major step to curb the largest remaining source of airborne lead pollution.

    The agency has proposed a so-called endangerment finding that aircraft that use leaded fuel cause or contribute to

  • By Cara Murez HealthDay Reporter
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  • October 7, 2022
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  • The U.S. government will invest $266 million to shore up the community and public health workforce using American Rescue Plan funding.

    About $225.5 million will go to 83 recipients to support training and apprenticeship for 13,000 new community health workers, CNN reported before Friday's announcement...

    To help consumers ascertain the nutritional value of foods more easily, the Biden administration said Tuesday it will propose putting nutrition labels on the front of packaging instead of on the back.

    The proposal will be paired with an update on criteria for wha...

    The White House on Tuesday released a national plan to end hunger by 2030, an ambitious goal that would be accomplished largely by expanding monthly food benefits for poor Americans.

    The plan would also aim to encourage healthy eating and physical activity so few...

    Consumers should immediately stop using HECOPRO digital display carbon monoxide (CO) detectors because they can fail to warn about the presence of the dangerous gas, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said.

    The CPSC issued the warning Thursday after detectors sold on Amazon.com failed tests with a CO concentration of 400 ppm, in violation of safety standards.

    At sus...

    New federal safety standards announced Wednesday aim to keep kids and teens safe from serious or life-threatening injuries from accidental swallowing of high-powered magnets.

    The new standards require that certain products with loose or separable magnets contain only those that are weak or too large to swallow.

    The aim is to reduce injuries that can occur when swallowed magnets att...