health care

As part of a clinical trial to treat sickle cell disease, Victoria Gray (center) has vials of blood drawn by nurses Bonnie Carroll (left) and Kayla Jordan at TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Health & Safety

Gene-Edited 'Supercells' Make Progress In Fight Against Sickle Cell Disease

8:21am November 19, 2019

by Rob Stein

Researchers edited the DNA in bone marrow cells taken from a Mississippi woman with sickle cell disease to produce a treatment that could alleviate the excruciating effects of her inherited illness.

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Health & Safety

When It Comes To Vaping, Health Officials Insist There's A Lot At Stake

6:49am November 19, 2019

A former vaper has a warning for others. And, scientists work to understand how nicotine affects the teenage brain. (This segment initially aired on Oct. 10, 2019 on Morning Edition.)

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Health & Safety

Open Enrollment For 2020 Obamacare Has Begun

5:56am November 19, 2019

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

This year the federal health insurance marketplace Healthcare.gov has a few new bells and whistles. (This piece initially aired on Nov. 3, 2019 on Weekend Edition Sunday.)

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Trump Administration's Efforts To Ban Most Flavored Vaping Products Have Stalled Out

6:07pm November 18, 2019

by Richard Harris

The White House is apparently backpedaling on its plan to ban most flavors in vaping products. The proposed FDA rule is unpopular with vape shop owners, and that's creating political blowback.

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Kathy Kleinfeld opened Houston Women's Reproductive Services, which offers medication abortions, because she saw a need for more flexible scheduling.

Health & Safety

For Supporters Of Abortion Access, Troubling Trends In Texas

9:32am November 18, 2019

by Ashley Lopez

Three years after winning a big legal battle, abortion providers still find themselves losing the ground war when it comes to keeping clinics open across the huge, populous state.

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José's son, who has schizophrenia, recently got into a fight that resulted in a broken window — an out-of-control moment from his struggle with mental illness. And it could increase his chances of deportation to a country where mental health care is ev

Health & Safety

A Young Immigrant Has Mental Illness, And That's Raising His Risk of Being Deported

9:22am November 17, 2019

by Christine Herman

Behavioral problems, criminal arrests and limited access to health care leave a father worried that his 21-year-old son will be deported to Mexico.

One rule announced by the Trump administration Friday puts pressure on hospitals to reveal what they charge insurers for procedures and services. Critics say the penalty for not following the rule isn't stiff enough to be a an effective deterrent.

Trump Wants Insurers and Hospitals To Show Real Prices To Patients

9:47pm November 15, 2019

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

Two regulations announced Friday take aim at health care prices. One, to affect patients by 2021, addresses hospital rates. The second, a proposal, would require more upfront clarity from insurers.

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Democratic presidential candidates former Vice President Joe Biden (left), Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (right) debate different ways to expand health coverage in America.

Health & Safety

Why Even Universal Health Coverage Isn't Enough

9:54am November 15, 2019

by Suhas Gondi

As U.S. presidential candidates prep for their next debate, a doctor-to-be asks them, and us all, to remember that even universal access to health care won't fix other disparities that hurt health.

"The profession we love has been taken over," psychiatrist and novelist Samuel Shem tells NPR, "with us sitting there in front of screens all day, doing data entry in a computer factory."

Novelist Doctor Skewers Corporate Medicine In 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'

9:00am November 13, 2019

by Mara Gordon

Samuel Shem's 1978 novel, The House of God, was a sardonic look at U.S. medicine through a young doctor's eyes. Shem's new fiction checks in with the same crew in the age of medicine by smartphone.

Mothers and their babies in Nigeria wait at a health center that provides vaccinations against polio. Vaccination rates lag in the middle-income country.

When Countries Get Wealthier, Kids Can Lose Out On Vaccines

4:27pm November 12, 2019

by Pien Huang

Childhood vaccines are often subsidized in the poorest countries. But not for those moving up the wealth ladder.