When last did a headache have you reaching into your medicine cabinet – and finding a bottle of aspirin that expired three years ago? Did you take it anyway? And, if you decided instead to get rid of those out-of-date painkillers, how did you do it? If you chose to throw it in the garbage or flush it down the toilet, you’re far from alone...Read more

Efforts by Republicans in Congress to make steep spending cuts have stirred widespread concerns that the federal government may trim expenditures on Medicaid even though President Donald Trump has previously indicated that he’s unwilling to do that. This public health insurance program covers around 72 million people – about 1 in 5 ...Read more

Ongoing measles outbreaks and the recent death of a child in West Texas from measles have many parents concerned. Most of the people who have gotten sick were not vaccinated against measles. This is a stark reminder of the importance of making sure your children are fully vaccinated.

In recent years, some parents have refused or delayed ...Read more

Like many Americans who voted for Donald Trump, Jason Rouse hopes the president’s return will mean lower prices for gas, groceries and other essentials.

But Rouse is looking to the federal government for relief from one particular pain point: high health care costs. “The prices are just ridiculous,” said Rouse, 53, a retired Michigan ...Read more

Experts have new advice for athletes with heart conditions – and on how doctors and patients should work together to weigh the risks of competitive sports.

Cardiovascular abnormalities usually disqualify people from competitive sports. But a new report from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology summarizes ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Scan any aisle in a convenience or grocery store, and those brightly packaged, bold lettered, sweet-and-salty options are likely to be ultra-processed.

The term has been in the news a lot lately, as there's evidence that these foods are linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, cancer and autoimmune diseases, such as ...Read more

It took nearly three years to win presumptive workers’ compensation coverage for breast, cervical, and other cancers that firefighters who work for federal agencies may develop because of hazardous exposures on the job.

Now, just weeks after the Labor Department added coverage for those illnesses, firefighters worry the gains may be in ...Read more

Five years ago, on a late Monday evening in March, Gov. Brian Kemp and his top health aides hastily called a news conference at the Capitol to make an announcement that would touch every person in Georgia.

The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had just confirmed Georgia’s first cases of the new and mysterious disease �...Read more

As President Donald Trump vows to rein in government spending and saddle federal money with new restrictions, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has a lot at stake — including about $1 billion in federal grants, according to its director, Barbara Ferrer.

Federal grants make up roughly two-thirds of its budget, funding efforts ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A patient who came to a hospital emergency room in Montgomery County is Pennsylvania’s first confirmed measles case this year amid a national surge of the highly contagious virus, according to health officials.

According to the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Office of Public Health, an infected ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — As a measles outbreak erupts in Texas and New Mexico, vaccination rates for the highly contagious disease have struggled to recover in California since they dipped to worrisome levels during the pandemic.

The outbreak of at least 146 cases and counting in Texas and 9 in New Mexico has also led to 20 hospitalizations and the...Read more

More states are loosening vaccine mandates, scaling back vaccine promotion efforts and taking other steps likely to lower vaccination rates — even as a major measles outbreak spreads in Texas.

Meanwhile, public health experts worry that the confirmation of vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and...Read more

In February 2025, flu rates spiked to the highest levels seen in at least 15 years, with flu outpacing COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified this flu season as having “high” severity across the U.S.

The...Read more

On Feb. 26, 2025, Texas health officials announced the death of a child in a measles outbreak – the first measles death in the United States since 2015. The outbreak was first identified in early February in Gaines County, Texas, where just 82% of kindergartners are vaccinated against measles, compared with 93% on average across the country...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Illegal drug use is deeply intertwined with homelessness, both increasing the risk of losing housing and arising or worsening when people find themselves on the streets, a new study has found. But it also found that a large majority of people living on the streets are not drug users.

The study, published in the medical journal ...Read more

Few Minnesotans sought COVID-19 vaccine to reduce their infection risks this winter, but at least the shots offered some protection for those who did.

The current vaccine was 33% effective at preventing emergency room and urgent care visits among adults who got COVID, according to interim federal estimates published Thursday. HCMC in ...Read more

A new outbreak of measles has taken hold in Texas beginning at the end of January, when two cases were diagnosed in Harris County. The cases were the first in that state since 2023. Now, a little more than a month later, the number of measles cases has increased exponentially to 124, as of Tuesday.

Harris County includes Houston, which has a ...Read more

Metformin is a medication prescribed to help manage type 2 diabetes. Recent research suggests, however, this medication may potentially decrease risk of certain types of skin cancer.

A retrospective case-control study published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology explored whether metformin could reduce the risk of non-melanoma skin cancers, ...Read more

At a recent Nevada legislative committee hearing, lawmakers faced off with members of the governor’s administration over how to fill gaping holes in the state’s upcoming budget.

At issue: whether opioid settlement money — paid by health care companies that were sued for fueling the opioid crisis and meant to help states abate addiction �...Read more