Mar 12 WATCH: HHS Secretary Azar defends proposed cuts to Medicare hospital payments By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Catherine Lucey, Associated Press The administration argues that the budget doesn't cut Medicare benefits to seniors but makes better use of taxpayers' dollars and helps reduce Medicare spending by lowering prescription drug costs. Continue reading
Mar 12 New Mexico weighs pot legalization and America's first government-run shops By Morgan Lee, Associated Press The idea for state-run pot shops comes from a trio of GOP state senators who broke with local Republican Party orthodoxy to embrace legal marijuana with a decidedly big-government approach that would have the state directly oversee most sales —… Continue reading
Mar 12 African-Americans, Hispanics exposed to more air pollution than whites By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press While other studies have shown minorities living with more pollution, this study is one of the first to combine buying habits and exposure into one calculation of inequity. Continue reading
Mar 09 Watch 4:42 Water costs balloon in cities along the Great Lakes By PBS NewsHour The Great Lakes are an indispensable source of drinking water for more than 48 million people in the U.S. and Canada. But in six large cities on the shorelines, residents are facing a cost crisis. WBEZ reporter Maria Ines Zamudio… Continue watching
Mar 08 An unvaccinated Oregon boy almost died of tetanus, CDC says By Gillian Flaccus, Associated Press The 2017 case is the first case of pediatric tetanus in Oregon in more than 30 years and alarmed infectious disease experts who said tetanus is almost unheard of in the U.S. since widespread immunization began in the 1940s. Continue reading
Mar 05 Watch 10:33 Measles outbreak sparks fears, renews tensions over mandatory vaccination By Cat Wise, Frank Carlson, Leah Nagy Over 200 cases of measles have been confirmed in the U.S. in the past few months. About half of them occurred in the Pacific Northwest, leading Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare an emergency and the state legislature to propose… Continue watching
Mar 05 FDA chief Scott Gottlieb is stepping down By Associated Press Gottlieb is stepping down after nearly two years leading the agency's response to a host of public health challenges, including the opioid epidemic, rising drug prices and underage vaping. Continue reading
Mar 05 Trump's family-planning rule challenged in lawsuit By David Crary, Associated Press The new rule, announced last week by the Department of Health and Human Services, would prohibit family planning clinics funded by the federal Title X program from making abortion referrals — a provision that critics denounce as a "gag rule."… Continue reading
Mar 05 WATCH: Teen shares why he defied mother's anti-vaccination ideas By Joshua Barajas An Ohio teen who said he went his entire life without numerous vaccines testified before Congress on the dangers of misinformation and ideas that fuel the anti-vaxxer movement and put many young people at risk. Continue reading
Mar 05 A second person seems to be HIV-free after stem cell transplant By Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press The transplant changed the London patient's immune system, giving him the donor's gene mutation and HIV resistance. Continue reading