From 2013 to 2016, more than one-third of adults in the United States ate fast food or pizza every day, a new survey shows from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
One key finding: The percentage of adults who consumed fast food increased with higher family income. 42% of families of four with a total income per year greater than $112,950 reported they ate fast food daily, compared to only 32% for families with a total income of less than $32,360.
One of the Trump administration’s most concrete efforts to lower drug prices is an approach that’s been around for decades: approving more generic drugs. And it’s moving fast.
By the numbers: FDA approved 781 generic drugs in fiscal 2018. That’s 90% more than in 2014, when Congress provided new authorities designed to speed the approval process, according to a PwC report.
As in-the-weeds as a revised waiver process sounds, the practical effects of what the Trump administration announced yesterday could add up to one of its most substantive blows yet against the Affordable Care Act.
The big picture: These changes will likely cause more separation of healthy and sick people, but only in states that avail themselves of these new options — creating another level of segmentation between red and blue states.
Ruiz Food Products, Inc. has recalled 2,490,593 pounds of meat and poultry taquitos due to concerns that the onions used in the filling could have salmonella or listeria bacteria, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Monday.
Don't eat: Any "Beef Taco & Cheese,” “Buffalo Style Cooked" or "“Chipotle Chicken Wrapped in A Battered Flour Tortilla” taquitos in 24-count, 4.5-pound cardboard cases with case codes 86183, 86006 or 86019.
Correction: The original story incorrectly stated the Food and Drug Administration ordered the recall.
The Trump administration is giving states more leeway to waive some of the Affordable Care Act's rules — a move that could ultimately advance some of the same policy objectives Republicans had pursued in their failed repeal-and-replace effort last year.
Why it matters: This revamped waiver process will open the door to more conservative proposals that primarily benefit healthier consumers. States could, for example, redirect the ACA's insurance subsidies toward cheaper, skimpier plans with fewer consumer protections, and away from ACA-compliant coverage.
John Arnold, a former energy trader and hedge fund manager, is putting up millions of dollars to fight the pharmaceutical industry over drug prices, the Wall Street Journal reports.
By the numbers: Arnold has given $19 million to ICER, the independent organization that studies whether drugs are worth what they cost.
Two weeks after a handful of senators introduced legislation to curtail surprise medical bills, the American College of Emergency Physicians hired new lobbyists to handle the issue.
Driving the news: ACEP, the trade group representing emergency room doctors, brought on four lobbyists with the law firm Holland & Knight on Oct. 2, according to a federal disclosure. The law firm directed questions to ACEP.
Between Soul Cycle, Fitbit, Whole30 diets and social media health gurus, the health and wellness industry is booming — but Americans are more likely to be obese today than ever before.
The problem: Despite promises made by gyms and fitness programs, physical activity does little to help people lose weight, says Ashkan Afshin from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. And Americans' diets are still terrible.
Violence this weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has again put a halt to efforts to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. The DRC's Ministry of Health reports that rebels in the Rwenzori neighborhood of Beni killed at least 12 people and kidnapped another dozen over the weekend — causing "all vaccination and awareness activities [to be] suspended on Sunday."
Why it matters: The DRC has reported more than 200 confirmed cases of Ebola since this outbreak started Aug.1 — and this is the 10th major incidence of violence near the outbreak epicenter in Beni. Each time public health officials are pulled away from their tasks of following up with contacts of infected people for monitoring and vaccination means the virus has a chance to spread to new people or regions.
