California this year took the final step in opening Medi-Cal, its Medicaid program, to every eligible resident regardless of immigration status. It’s a significant expansion for an already massive safety net program.

Medi-Cal’s annual spending now stands at $157 billion, serving about 15 million low-income residents, more than a third of ...Read more

A new federal watchdog audit is ratcheting up pressure on government officials to crack down on billions of dollars in overcharges linked to Medicare Advantage home visits.

But so far, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has rejected a recommendation from the Health and Human Services Inspector General to limit payments stemming from ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Joe McKay tried everything medicine had to offer for the blinding headaches that began in the months after 9/11, when the former New York City firefighter spent weeks wading through the curtains of dust and smoke at the World Trade Center.

On his worst days, McKay was incapacitated by pain every few hours, feeling like someone ...Read more

Editor’s Note: November is National Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month

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Approximately 66,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Michael Wallace, a gastroenterologist at Mayo Clinic, warns that early signs of this deadly disease are easy to miss.

...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My brother was diagnosed with hepatitis C two years ago. Our family hopes to destigmatize the condition and encourage others to get tested. What causes hepatitis C? How can it be treated?

ANSWER: Thank you for your advocacy. Your brother is not alone — around 2 to 3 million people live with hepatitis C in the U.S. 40% of ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — After the onset of COVID-19 drove down business for childcare providers, the federal government stepped in to help. Grant funding came through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021 to stabilize the already-fragile sector, helping providers survive the most difficult and straining times.

But that funding ran out about a ...Read more

BOSTON — A new long COVID study could be a “game changer,” according to local researchers who found that an AI tool can identify hidden cases of the mysterious condition from patient health records.

While some diagnostic studies suggest that about 7% of the population suffers from long COVID, this new approach from Mass General Brigham ...Read more

For more than 50 million Americans, finding a dentist is a difficult – in some cases, impossible – proposition. Many rural communities don’t have a dentist. People of color and those with disabilities often lack access, and only about one-third of dentists accept Medicaid.

That’s why dental therapists – professionals who don...Read more

LOS ANGELES — To try to keep young people from becoming addicted to tobacco, Congress took two steps in 2020 to keep minors from posing as adults to buy vaping products online: It barred e-cigarette sites from delivering through the U.S. Postal Service, and it required whatever delivery service they did use to check the recipient's ID.

The ...Read more

At the California Poison Control System in San Francisco, a call has just come in from a mother whose toddler accidentally drank a stain remover called “Grandma’s Secret.”

“I’m not sure how much she had and whether I should take her to the hospital,” the mom says. “She’s acting like her normal self, but she has her ‘disgusted ...Read more

RICHMOND, Vt. — On a warm autumn morning, Roger Brown walked through a grove of towering trees whose sap fuels his maple syrup business. He was checking for damage after recent flooding. But these days, his workers’ health worries him more than his trees’.

The cost of Slopeside Syrup’s employee health insurance premiums spiked 24% this ...Read more

Using deep brain stimulation techniques, neuroscientists at Mayo Clinic are looking for early signals in the brain to help stop seizures. In their biomarker discovery initiative, a team of researchers is assessing how different stimulation patterns affect different parts of the brain.

The goal, says Dr. Jonathon Parker, a Mayo Clinic ...Read more

Former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that if President-elect Donald Trump appointed him to a health leadership position, the first thing he would work on would be removing fluoride from water.

Fluoride was first introduced to U.S. water in 1945 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Scientists saw a direct impact of positive tooth ...Read more

CHICAGO — The American Indian Center’s new Food is Medicine program marks a generational and culinary shift — through braised bison with a blackberry mole sauce, and a venison dip sandwich with giardiniera — for the cultural center to 65,000 Native Americans in the Chicago area.

The AIC, founded in 1953, now located in Chicago's Albany ...Read more

A book can inspire joy and stir the imagination. Even better this holiday season is the gift of sharing that book with your child.

Turning the pages of a high-quality, print book filled with colorful pictures and rich, expressive language is best. While touchscreens and other electronic devices may be popular, they are typically passive or ...Read more

HURON, S.D. — Kelly Engebretson was excited to get fitted for a prosthetic after having part of his leg amputated. But he wasn’t sure how he’d get to the appointment.

Nah Thu Thu Win’s twin sons needed vaccinations before starting kindergarten. But she speaks little English, and the boys lacked health insurance.

William Arce and Wanda ...Read more

Misconceptions about the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines may make some people hesitant to roll up their sleeves. What better way to clear up the confusion than hearing straight from a Mayo Clinic expert?

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Dr. Robert Jacobson, medical director for Mayo Clinic's Primary Care Immunization Program, clears up some ...Read more

To discover how millions in opioid settlement funds are being spent in Idaho, you can visit the state attorney general’s website, which hosts 91 documents from state and local entities getting the money.

What you’ll find is a lot of bureaucratese.

Nearly three years ago, these jurisdictions signed an agreement promising annual reports “...Read more

Avid local politics follower and retired journalist Paul Krueger had a full day. He sat in on a San Diego City Council meeting, swam in the Coronado Bay, then returned to city hall to participate in an afternoon session.

At home, he and his wife, Meg Bouher, had salads for dinner. Then Krueger started working on a crossword puzzle in bed.

...Read more