health care

President Trump speaks as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., looks on during a meeting with House and Senate leadership at the White House back in June.

Politics & Government

Trump, McConnell Point Fingers Over Health Care Failure

5:57pm August 09, 2017

by Jessica Taylor

The Senate majority leader blamed the president's legislative inexperience for the failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, but Trump fired back it was McConnell who came up short.

A Physician Explores 'A Better Path' To The End Of Life

2:15pm August 09, 2017

by Terry Gross

Dr. Jessica Nutik Zitter, author of Extreme Measures, discusses the ethics of using medical assistance to hasten death. Zitter is the subject of the Netflix documentary Extremis.

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Deona Scott and her son Phoenix at her graduation from Charleston Southern University in South Carolina in 2015. Scott now works full time for Nurse-Family Partnership, a program she credits with helping to prepare her to be a good mother.

'Pay For Success' Approach Used To Fund A Program That Supports New Moms

6:04am August 09, 2017

by Michelle Andrews

South Carolina says it will contribute up to $7.5 million to help fund the expansion of the "Nurse-Family Partnership" in the state if the program can show it is improving pregnancy outcomes.

First responders in Washington, D.C., bring naloxone on every emergency call.

First Responders Spending More On Overdose Reversal Drug

5:30pm August 08, 2017

by Alison Kodjak

With price hikes and rising demand, the drug naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose, is taking up an ever-larger share of emergency department budgets.

Eager to attract good help in a tight labor market, large employers say they are newly committed to maintaining health coverage for workers.

Big Employers Say They Will Continue To Offer Health Plans To Their Workers

3:05pm August 08, 2017

by Jay Hancock

Three years ago, only about a quarter of the nation's large employers were "very confident" they would offer health insurance to their workers in 10 years. That number has now risen to 65 percent.

Keller measures the separation in a student's abdominal muscles using her fingers as a guide.

Flattening The 'Mummy Tummy' With 1 Exercise, 10 Minutes A Day

3:55pm August 07, 2017

by Michaeleen Doucleff

The technical term is diastasis recti and it affects many new moms. The growing fetus pushes apart the abdominal muscles and the separation often stays open. But science suggests this fix can work.

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Shannon McGrath, pictured with her son Rayder, says it has been a lot easier to make her medical appointments recently, thanks to help from a "patient navigator" — assigned to her by Kaiser Permanente — who arranged McGrath's transportation.

Your ZIP Code Might Be As Important To Health As Your Genetic Code

3:02pm August 04, 2017

by Kristian Foden-Vencil

Health care forms increasingly ask about more than just medical history. That's because doctors are beginning to understand that patients' stress, and how and where they live, influence health, too.

The Haven for Hope, a homeless shelter in San Antonio, is one of dozens of locations around 20 South Texas counties where people are now being tested for latent tuberculosis infections.

South Texas Fights Tuberculosis One Blood Test At A Time

1:21pm August 04, 2017

by Wendy Rigby

Texas has one of the highest rates of TB among U.S. states. A sweeping effort is underway, largely funded by Medicaid, to diagnose and treat people who don't know they harbor the lung infection.

Whistleblowers Come Forward Over Problems At New Hampshire VA Hospital

7:49am August 04, 2017

by Peter Biello

A dozen whistleblowers at the Manchester, N.H., VA hospital have exposed inadequate patient care and incompetence, leading to staff dismissals and an investigation.

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Judge Lewis Gregory, head of the city court in Greenwood, Ind., began allowing drug court participants to begin taking Vivitrol after meeting with an Alkermes sales representative.

To Grow Market Share, A Drugmaker Pitches Its Product To Judges

4:51pm August 03, 2017

by Jake Harper

The pharmaceutical company Alkermes is trying to increase the number of people taking Vivitrol for their opioid addiction by marketing the drug to judges, who have the power to influence treatment.

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