Across income levels, white seniors in the U.S. are more likely to use hearing aids than Black and Hispanic seniors, a new study found.
Why it matters: Hearing aids can help people with hearing loss live independent lives and communicate more easily. But the new data suggests seniors aren't benefiting equally.
Florida's surgeon general issued guidance on Friday recommending communities in the state stop adding fluoride to their water.
Why it matters: There is ample evidence fluoride in water improves dental health and is safe at the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the federal government can't require municipalities to remove fluoride from their water, earlier this month Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump's pick to lead Health and Human Services, said the administration could issue national guidance advising against it.
President-elect Trump has unabashedly surrounded himself with men who've said, done or been accused of things that would disqualify them under any other U.S. leader in our lifetimes.
It begs the question: Why? Why go to the mat to pick and defend people Trump knows will raise questions about his judgment, heart or morality? In almost every case, there are similarly loyal and tested alternatives. Yet he often goes with the bad boys.
President-elect Trump's nominees to lead the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appear amenable to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s desire to disrupt key health agencies and, especially at the CDC, to helping him raise concerns about vaccines despite reams of data on their safety.
Why it matters: The nominees' views are nuanced and, in some cases, vary significantly, including on the topic of vaccines. But they're all choices outside of the mainstream and suggest big changes are coming to the country's health agencies.
Patients are flooding doctors offices and pharmacies seeking IUD replacements, backup contraception and abortion pills before the Trump administration takes office and Republicans control Congress.
Why it matters: Republicans have vowed to restrict abortion care and experts say access to reproductive health care more broadly could erode, especially under a conservative Supreme Court.
