Jul 19 Watchdog calls on EPA to strengthen oversight of state water systems after Flint crisis By Associated Press The EPA's Office of Inspector General says in a report that the agency must take steps now to be able to react more quickly in times of public health emergencies. Continue reading
Jul 18 How do Medigap plans work? Here's a tutorial By Philip Moeller A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation offers a helpful look at these plans. Continue reading
Jul 18 Infants summoned for deportation under family separation, federal data shows By Christina Jewett, Shefali Luthra, Kaiser Health News The number of infants under age 1 involved has been rising — up threefold from 24 infants in the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30, and 46 infants the year before. Continue reading
Jul 18 CRISPR causes significantly greater DNA damage than previously thought, study finds By Sharon Begley, STAT The DNA damage found in the new study included deletions of thousands of DNA bases, including at spots far from the edit. Some of the deletions can silence genes that should be active and activate genes that should be silent,… Continue reading
Jul 17 Watch 7:34 Sick Puerto Ricans are facing long waits to see the doctor By Jason Kane and Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News From 2006 to 2016, the number of doctors in Puerto Rico dropped from 14,000 to 9,000, an exodus hastened by Hurricane Maria. With so many doctors leaving the island, many low-income families must travel long distances for medical appointments, and… Continue watching
Jul 17 Watch 9:02 Educators worry students don't know vaping health risks By Kavitha Cardoza, Education Week It looks like a flash drive, can be hidden anywhere and doesn't create tell-tale smoke. Across the country, the use of these e-cigarettes are spiking among youth, but parents often aren't even sure what they are and many teens mistakenly… Continue watching
Jul 17 Why health insurers track when you buy plus-size clothes or binge-watch TV By Marshall Allen, ProPublica With little public scrutiny, the health insurance industry has joined forces with data brokers to vacuum up personal details about hundreds of millions of Americans. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how… Continue reading
Jul 15 Disability rights groups voice issues with Starbucks' plastic straw ban as company responds By Molly Enking After Starbucks announced on July 9 it would phase out plastic straws from its stores by 2020, disability rights activists were concerned the policy would exclude some people with disabilities. Continue reading
Jul 15 Watch 10:17 In Oregon, adult foster care offers support for the elderly By Joanne Elgart Jennings In a bid to meet the demand for long-term care in the U.S., which is expected to grow in the coming years, some states are turning to adult foster care to offer aging adults physical assistance and emotional support. NewsHour… Continue watching
Jul 14 Pulses of light restored hearing in gerbils. Could that lead to higher-tech cochlear implants? By Justin Chen, STAT Could light one day be used to restore hearing? To try to answer that question, a team of German bioengineers surgically installed coiled strips of optical fibers in the ears of deaf gerbils. Continue reading