PHILADELPHIA — Patients addicted to opioids are arriving at ERs with deep wounds that expose their bones. Some have lost multiple limbs. And many ultimately are leaving hospitals against medical advice, with severe, untreated skin lesions, insisting they can’t bear the withdrawal from tranq — the drug that caused their wounds in the first ...Read more

Two rival hospitals in Terre Haute, Indiana, pulled back their merger application Monday, just days before the state was due to rule on the deal amid growing backlash to such medical monopolies.

The proposed merger between Union Health and Terre Haute Regional Hospital, the only acute care hospitals in Vigo County, Indiana, would have left ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- So far, there have been no reports of illness associated with the bird flu virus that was identified this weekend in a retail sample of raw milk from a Fresno-based dairy.

But the dairy behind the bird flu detection, Raw Farm LLC, is the same company that has previously sold contaminated products, causing many illnesses over...Read more

Is your Thanksgiving turkey safe to eat?

As poultry farms and dairies across California continue to battle bird flu outbreaks, residents may be worried about food safety this holiday season.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza surfaced in the United States in January 2022, the virus has been detected in wild birds and domestic poultry, according...Read more

Medicare Advantage – the commercial alternative to traditional Medicare – is drawing down federal health care funds, costing taxpayers an extra 22% per enrollee to the tune of US$83 billion a year.

Medicare Advantage, also known as Part C, was supposed to save the government money. The competition among private insurance companies...Read more

Does cancer, kidney disease or high blood pressure run in your family? Knowing your family health history is crucial. The holidays are the perfect time to share family health information with your loved ones.

The Office of the Surgeon General declared Thanksgiving as National Family History Day to encourage families to share information about ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The National Institutes of Health have awarded an epidemiology professor at the University of Pennsylvania $11 million to study the link between chemical exposures and dementia.

The project will test blood and urine samples from thousands of people, looking for traces of environmental chemicals such as pesticides and metals, ...Read more

Regarding Robert F. Kennedy Jr., there is little middle ground — people either love him or hate him. Which is why, after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the haters came out. Legal health care expert Lawrence Gostin said of the nomination, “I can’t think of a darker day for ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House could embolden Republicans who want to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act, but implementing such sweeping changes would still require overcoming procedural and political hurdles.

Trump, long an ACA opponent, expressed interest during the campaign in retooling the health law. In ...Read more

The opioid crisis remains a significant public health challenge in the United States. In 2022, over 2.5 million American adults had an opioid use disorder, and opioids accounted for nearly 76% of overdose deaths.

Some patients are fearful of using opioids after surgery due to concerns about dependence and potential side effects, even ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri judge on Monday upheld the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, allowing the state to continue prohibiting treatments such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for people under 18.

Circuit Court Judge Robert Craig Carter from southern Douglas County wrote in a 74-page order on Monday that the ban...Read more

No matter what dishes are on the table this coming season of feasts — which starts off for Americans with Thanksgiving on Thursday — one word will float through everyone’s mind: calories. How many? How sinful? How empty? How delicious? How boring? How much in carbohydrates? In protein? In fat? How soon to the gym?

The word is extremely ...Read more

As a parent, it's difficult to watch your child struggle. At any age, you hurt for them. You want to help―but there comes a point when helping can be harmful.

Removing obstacles from their path may make life easier in the short term, but as they approach college and young adulthood, it could set them up for bigger problems.

So, how can you ...Read more

MIAMI -- As her students finished their online exam, Arlet Lara got up to make a cafe con leche.

Her 16-year-old son found her on the kitchen floor. First, he called Dad in a panic. Then 911.

“I had a stroke and my life made a 180-degree turn,” Lara told the Miami Herald, recalling the medical scare she experienced in May 2020 in the early...Read more

Indiana residents and federal officials are urging state health regulators to stop two rival hospitals in Terre Haute from merging. The deal, if approved, would leave residents with a hospital monopoly.

Union Health, a nonprofit whose main hospital is licensed as a 341-bed facility, would buy the county’s only other acute care hospital, the ...Read more

Nearly a year after the Biden administration gave Florida the green light to become the first state to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada — a longtime goal of politicians across the political spectrum, including President-elect Donald Trump — the program has yet to begin.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hailed the FDA’s approval ...Read more

A California agency charged with slowing health costs has set a lofty goal for insurers to direct 15% of their spending to primary care by 2034, part of the state’s effort to expand the primary care workforce and give more people access to preventive care services.

The board of the state Office of Health Care Affordability in October set its ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to run the sprawling government agency that administers Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act marketplace — celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — recently held broad investments in health care, tech, and food companies that would pose significant conflicts of interest.

Oz’s holdings, some shared ...Read more