Long COVID is likely keeping a lot of Americans out of the workforce, experts say, — and that could continue for years as people struggle with persistent health problems.
The big picture: Long COVID isn't confined to older patients, and its symptoms can vary. The U.S. also doesn't have particularly strong support systems for people who need long-term COVID treatment.
Economy-wide inflation has outpaced health care inflation by a wide margin since last April, but Americans should expect health care prices to rise more soon.
The big picture: Companies can raise the prices of food, furniture and other commodities immediately. That's not how it works in health care, where prices are set by government programs or negotiated with private insurers in advance and are reflected in economic data later.
Cancer treatments that modify a patient's immune cells to attack cancer cells are being re-engineered to try to treat more cancers in more people.
Why it matters: CAR-T immunotherapies have been successful in treating certain types of blood cancers in some people. But they struggle against solid tumors, which make up about 90% of cancers in adults.
Adolescents and young adults lost an estimated 1.2 million years of life due to unintentional drug overdoses over five years, according to a study published in JAMA.
What they found: About 3,300 adolescents ages 10–19 years old died of an unintentional drug overdose in the U.S. between 2015 and 2019, representing about 187,078 years of life lost, researchers from Ohio State University said.
Ten years after receiving a treatment that modifies a patient's own immune cells to attack cancer, two patients who had a form of blood cancer show no signs of the disease, researchers report Wednesday.
Why it matters: The patients' remissions hint at how long the effects of CAR-T therapy — a promising but currently very costly treatment— may persist in some people.
Employers are beefing up benefits packages to lure workers in a tight labor market, and many are adding pricey fertility benefits — such as in-vitro fertilization and egg freezing — to their offerings.
Why it matters: Benefits around fertility and family-building have long been overlooked by employer health care plans, but that's rapidly changing.
A Virginia judge on Friday temporarily barred enforcement of Gov. Glenn Youngkin's (R) executive order making masks optional in schools.
Why it matters: Seven school boards have sued Youngkin over the order, calling it a violation of Virginia’s constitution, which leaves school supervision up to the boards, and a state law that requires school districts to follow federal health guidelines.
