HELENA, Mont. — A last-minute change to a 2019 bill put an end date on Montana’s Medicaid expansion program, setting the stage for what is anticipated to be the most significant health care debate of the 2025 Montana Legislature.

In recent interviews, legislative leaders predicted a vigorous debate over keeping the Medicaid expansion ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My teenager received new headphones for Christmas while my preteen asked for a drum set. It's been a bit noisy around here. How can I protect their developing hearing?

ANSWER: Hearing loss often is thought of as something that happens to the elderly. But we live, work and play in a noisy environment, and hearing loss affects ...Read more

Just like older kids, babies and toddlers can get concussions. In fact, little ones face some extra risks. But it can sometimes be harder to recognize the signs of concussion, a type of mild traumatic brain injury, in infants and toddlers. They may not have the language skills yet to tell you how they feel.

The impact from a bump, blow or jolt ...Read more

Whether it's a wintry visit to a snow-covered ski resort or a summertime hike in an alpine park, a vacation in the mountains can be breathtaking. Literally.

"There is less oxygen available to breathe at higher altitudes," said Dr. William K. Cornwell, an associate professor of cardiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in ...Read more

Impacting millions of children in the U.S. alone, asthma can be particularly problematic to diagnose with specificity — leaving the majority of kids without treatments that target their subtype of the condition.

Using a new, noninvasive nose swab test, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have for the first time detected multiple ...Read more

On the heels of a scuttled hospital merger between rivals in Terre Haute, Indiana, a state senator introduced a bill that would forbid similar mergers in the future.

Last year, nonprofit Union Health tried to acquire the only other acute care hospital in Vigo County by leveraging a state law it helped create that allows hospital monopolies. Now...Read more

The middlemen that comprise a growing share of America’s convoluted health care system find themselves in a bind. The public is angry about the inflated costs and opaque dealings that govern their access to medical care. Lawmakers, despite recent setbacks, are eager to respond. Intermediaries have become an obvious target for blame and reform....Read more

Los Angeles has experienced some of the world’s worst air quality this week as smoke from massive wildfires blankets the region and threatens the health of far more people than the fires themselves. And that will end up adding to the economic toll.

Almost 180,000 have been forced to flee their homes and at least 10,000 structures have been ...Read more

The rapidly spreading wildfires that have transformed much of Los Angeles County into a raging hellscape are not only upending the lives of tens of thousands of residents and business owners, but also stressing the region’s hospitals, health clinics, first responders, and nursing homes.

At least one medical clinic burned down. Senior patients...Read more

In states where both medical and recreational marijuana are legal, fewer patients are filling prescriptions for medications used to treat anxiety. That is the key finding of my recent study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

I am an applied policy researcher who studies the economics of risky behaviors and substance use ...Read more

Many people use the new year to reflect on their relationship with alcohol. Just-released government guidelines are giving Americans another reason to consider a “dry January.”

Over the past few decades, mounting scientific evidence has shown that as little as 1-2 alcoholic drinks per day can lead to increases in the likelihood of...Read more

You don’t have to actually freeze to death in order to die of cold.

And according to the Mayo Clinic, people who are dying of cold usually don’t realize it.

As sleet, snow or cold rainfall is expected in metro Atlanta on Friday amid freezing temperatures, Southerners who aren’t used to these conditions need to be careful to protect their...Read more

A new study has revealed a significant link between a common pregnancy complication and early heart disease in women.

Researchers found that women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) were at higher risk of developing coronary artery disease at an earlier age. In addition, they found that women with these disorders were ...Read more

A disability rights group is suing Maryland’s health secretary and health department in federal court for leaving mentally ill people accused of crimes to languish in jail rather than admitting them to psychiatric hospitals as required by state law.

Filed Thursday, the lawsuit by Disability Rights Maryland claims Health Secretary Dr. Laura ...Read more

Following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision ending the national protections for abortion rights, more young Americans are seeking options for permanent contraception, a new study has found.

Researchers saw an increase in two medical procedures for permanent sterilization among adults ages 19 to 26 following the leaked ruling in May 2022, ...Read more

Patients are piling up in Minnesota emergency rooms once again, but it’s not just from COVID-19.

State health officials say influenza is making a comeback, combining with COVID, norovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) to put more pressure on Minnesota hospitals than they’ve faced since the end of the pandemic. Thursday’s weekly ...Read more

BALTIMORE — The first two district courthouses in Baltimore found to have water contaminated with Legionella bacteria since November have now been cleared after the latest round of remediation and retesting.

Results received Wednesday from the tests conducted at the 5800 Wabash Ave. and 700 E. Patapsco Ave. courthouses on Dec. 30 have found ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — At a CVS store in a racially diverse neighborhood in Brooklyn Center, the only devices available to shoppers to measure their blood-oxygen levels are virtually unregulated fingertip oximeters that may be less accurate in people with darker skin.

So-called “health and wellness” pulse oximeters available online and at ...Read more