Sickle cell experts say a cure without care jeopardizes the freedom promised by new gene therapies
Two new, cutting-edge cures for sickle cell disease, a debilitating genetic blood disorder, have been approved on Friday. The sickle cell community is cautiously hopeful as questions around access and comprehensive care loom large. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Exa-cel, also known by its commercial name Casgevy. It’s a gene-editing therapy that uses […]
After Dobbs, doctors say more people are turning to permanent contraception
Sitting in the living room of her Cleveland home, 30-year-old Grace O’Malley reflects on when she ruled out having kids of her own. O’Malley has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic condition that weakens the body’s connective tissue, and can get much worse postpartum. About three years earlier, when she was in her mid-twenties, her condition worsened. […]
The White House is urging schools to address a rise in fentanyl exposure among teens
Narcan, also known by its generic name Naloxone, is a life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses. But in two-thirds of adolescent overdose deaths, the medication wasn’t used even though there was someone nearby. The main driving factor behind these overdose deaths is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is so potent even a tiny amount can […]
More children are being poisoned by e-cigarette liquids. Here’s what parents need to know
Dr. Hannah Hays has seen what exposure to the liquid used in vapes and electronic cigarettes can do to children. One child who had ingested a large amount of liquid from a vape pen “developed loss of consciousness, muscle jerking, repeated vomiting and had to be placed on a ventilator or breathing machine,” Hays, the […]
Scammy Medicare ads and unsolicited calls bombard seniors shopping for health insurance. Will federal efforts help them?
New regulations designed to crack down on misleading marketing of Medicare insurance plans face their first big test when seniors begin shopping for coverage on Oct. 15. One minute last December Leslie Montgomery was a medieval warlord pillaging a nearby kingdom. The next she was a retiree drowning in a flood of confusing Medicare sales […]
Farm-based activities can support mental wellness. Why aren’t there more care farms in the U.S.?
Care farms are agricultural places for people with physical or mental health challenges to process their emotions, while performing farming tasks and working with animals. Participants are able to receive formal or informal care to address things like anxiety, depression and grief. It’s a popular concept in Europe that hasn’t gained as much traction in […]
Ozempic hype forces employer calls on obesity coverage
Spending on a new class of diabetes and weight loss medications hit nearly $7 billion in the first half of the year, as people are clamoring for these highly effective drugs. Employer health insurance plans are shouldering the bulk of that financial burden as half of Americans get their coverage through work. “The cost of […]
States to reinstate half a million people’s Medicaid coverage after system errors
Thirty states reported that they have mistakenly dropped tens of thousands of people, including children, from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP. In the Midwest and the surrounding region, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio and Nebraska reported that they have not been complying with federal rules to renew people’s coverage after pandemic-era […]
Suicide and crisis prevention line 988 adds American Sign Language for Deaf people
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org To access American Sign Language services via 988, you can call 1-800-273-8255 on a phone with video capabilities, or press the ASL NOW button on 988lifeline.org. The 988 Lifeline is working to make videophone […]
Girls are in a mental health crisis. What can schools do?
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Shekinah Jackson walked into her first day at Chicago Vocational High School on the city’s South Side convinced she’d spend the next […]
The region is in the thick of “a synthetic drug crisis”
More than 100,000 people died of an opioid overdose nationwide in 2022 and more than two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Synthetic opioids are substances that are synthesized in a laboratory and act on the same targets in the brain as natural opioids to reduce pain. In contrast, natural opioids — including heroin, morphine, […]
Medicaid Navigators and clients point to errors costing eligible people their insurance
A federal agency is alarmed by the magnitude of Medicaid coverage losses in states including Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. In recent letters sent separately to each state, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, raised concerns about the high rates of people losing Medicaid insurance. The letters pointed to people who were kicked off Medicaid, […]
Fall and winter bring more respiratory virus activity. Here’s how to protect yourself
Many respiratory viruses circulate year-round in the United States, and more activity is typically seen during fall and winter. The public is likely to be exposed to coronavirus, flu, and RSV in the coming months. Here’s what people should know about these viruses and the available vaccines. RSV Respiratory syncytial virus is a common virus […]
Heat waves aren’t just an inconvenience. They’re a threat to public health
The Midwest is experiencing rising temperatures this week, as heat waves become more frequent and deadly across the U.S. Experts studying the connection between climate change and health say that extreme heat is not just an inconvenience. “The biggest challenge in this country is making sure that people are aware that extreme heat is a […]
Mental health crisis line 988 fields significantly more calls, 12 times as many texts in first year
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. When 24-year-old Marie texted 988 last December, she was in the middle of a dissociative episode that left her unable to speak. […]
