STAT news

Before you send your spit to 23andMe, what you need to know

By Sharon Begley, STAT

The genetic testing company 23andMe received approval this week from regulators to sell genetic reports on an individual’s risk for 10 diseases, most prominently Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

This community has slipped through the cracks of the U.S. health care system

By Helen Branswell, STAT

Thousands of people in this northwestern corner of Arkansas, many of them working poor, are from a faraway constellation of islands. In all but the fewest cases they will never be able to qualify for Medicaid or Medicare under current…

Should taxpayers cover the light bills at university labs? Trump kicks off a tense debate

By Meghana Keshavan, STAT

Taxpayers spend billions subsidizing the electric bills, equipment, and other overhead costs at university research labs. That funding may face steep cuts.

How to build a female reproductive system that fits in the palm of your hand

By Ike Swetlitz, STAT

On Tuesday, scientists unveiled a five-organ female reproductive system on a chip small enough to hold in your hand, and showed that it could simulate a 28-day menstrual cycle.

In Trump country, voters don’t blame president for the health care bill debacle

By Max Siegelbaum and David Steen Martin, STAT

“He did all he could, I think,” said one Virginia supporter of President Trump's efforts to save the American Health Care Act.

In the state with the highest medical debt, it’s the middle class who carries the burden

By Max Blau, STAT

Nearly 40 percent of adults under 65 carry medical debt, and many of them are middle class. When they don't pay their bills, hospitals must eat the cost.

A pricey drug cuts cardiovascular risks in clinical trial — but will insurers cover it?

By Damian Garde, STAT

Amgen's cholesterol drug lowered risk of cardiovascular trouble in a huge clinical trial — but the results may not be good enough for insurers to cover.

This insurance company wants to analyze your saliva to predict when you’ll die

By Rebecca Robbins, STAT

A life insurance company is turning to the hot, but still unproven, field of epigenetics to try to bet on how long you’re likely to live.

House Republicans would let employers demand workers’ genetic test results

By Sharon Begley, STAT

A House panel voted to allow employers to require workers to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars.

Top U.S. hospitals promote unproven medicine with a side of mysticism

By Casey Ross, Max Blau, Kate Sheridan, STAT

The embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But an examination of 15 academic research centers across the U.S. underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools.