Health insurers nationwide must continue to provide coverage of certain preventive services like cancer screenings and behavioral counseling at no cost, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Why it matters: The decision in the closely watched case largely preserves the Affordable Care Act's free preventive services requirement.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday authorized the sale of the first menthol e-cigarettes for adults, saying evidence showed they could reduce the health consequences of traditional cigarette smoking.
Why it matters: It's the strongest government endorsement to date of manufacturers' argument that e-cigarettes are effective smoking cessation tools, despite their appeal to youths.
We've spent the last nine weeks going through health care's defining topics, but if there's a thread tying them all together it's this: Health care in America is deeply unequal, and it might get worse.
Why it matters: All of the innovation in the world won't make any difference to patients if it's unaffordable or inaccessible, and right now everything in the pipeline is headed for a two-tiered system.
"The freedom to start a family with IVF is under threat" from Republican policies, former Rep. Gabby Giffords and husband Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) wrote in a People Magazine essay discussing their own experience with fertility issues.
The big picture: The essay from the former congresswoman, who was scheduled to receivefertility treatment two days after she was shot at point-blank range, and her senator husbandcomes following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling briefly froze access to IVF treatment in the state.
House members from both parties are forming a new group to crack down on China's role in the U.S. fentanyl epidemic as part of a more aggressive push to cut off illicit supply of the lethal drug.
Why it matters: Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, tearing apart families while fracturing communities and disrupting the labor market.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to use the bully pulpit to lower the price of wildly popular anti-obesity drugs the same way he helped pushed drugmakers to limit inhaler and insulin costs. But this bid could be much more of an uphill climb.
Why it matters: Surging demand for drugs like Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy could severely strain Medicare and patients' wallets. Despite that, drug manufacturers are loath to budge on list prices.
