The Biden administration and U.S. agriculture officials on Friday proposed new nutrition standards for school meals, including the first limits on added sugars — part of an effort to fight childhood obesity and other diet-related diseases.
Driving the news: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the proposed standards at the USDA Conversation on Healthy School Meals Roundtable, and said in a statement that the goal is “keeping kids healthy and helping them reach their full potential.”
The majority of Americans (57%) support a ban on the sale of all tobacco products and even more support blocking sales of menthol cigarettes (62%), a CDC study published in Preventing Chronic Disease found.
Driving the news: Researchers asked nearly 6,500 people in 2021 about what extent they might support prohibiting tobacco sales.
There were more than 35 million prior authorization requests to Medicare Advantage insurers in 2021, according to an analysis from KFF.
Why it matters: Drawn by promises of capped out-of-pocket costs, vision and dental benefits, and perks like fitness classes, Medicare Advantage plans make up around half of the plans seniors are choosing for their coverage.
More states are working out differences over what medical services non-doctors can provide in order to ease stubborn workforce shortages plaguing health systems.
Why it matters: The pandemic prompted states to waive certain licensure requirements which allowed providers to more easily practice in other states or to expand the services they were allowed to provide to patients, including via telehealth.
