Why it matters: Dire forecasts of health care worker shortages often look to adecade or more from now, but the pandemic — and its ongoing fallout —has already ushered in a volatile era of dissatisfied workers and understaffed health care facilities.
The Food and Drug Administration rescinded a marketing ban on Juul e-cigarettes, saying Thursday that it is reviewing new case law and weighing updated information from the company.
Why it matters: While the FDA said the action didn't amount to authorizing the products for sale, it indicates the agency is reviewing them and that federal clearance is possible.
A Medicaid experiment supporting comprehensive and crisis mental health care at community clinics is expanding to 10 new states.
Why it matters: The initiative provides sustainable funding to help clinics that serve low-income patients provide mental health and substance use treatment.
Two-thirds of Americans see climate change as a threat to human health, and most are bracing for a summer of extreme weather they expect will be as bad as or worse than last year, according to the latest Axios-Ipsos American Health Index.
The big picture: There's a perception that the record heat, wildfires, floods and other extreme weather events that played out vividly across screens last summer is a new baseline, though sentiment varies by age and political affiliation.
Food insecurity is worsening the most drastically in the Midwest, where the number of food-insecure people increased by over 40% in several states from 2021 to 2022, a new report finds.
Why it matters: The national rate of food insecurity is about 13% across all counties — but some areas are struggling with hunger to a much more severe degree.
Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation faced headwind in this year's legislative sessions following a boom last year, per data analysis from the Human Rights Campaign shared exclusively with Axios.
The big picture: About 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were proposed in both 2023 and 2024 — but significantly fewer passed this year.
