BATON ROUGE, La. — On Tuesday, Louisiana will become the first state in the U.S. to categorize two widely used abortion pills as “controlled dangerous substances.” Opponents argue the classification could have catastrophic impacts in a state that already has a near-total abortion ban and one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. … Read more
Thinner benefits and coverage changes await many older Americans shopping for health insurance this fall. That’s if their plan is even still available in 2025. More than a million people will probably have to find new coverage as major insurers cut costs and pull back from markets for Medicare Advantage plans, the privately run version … Read more
McALLEN, Texas — For three days, the staff of an Orlando medical clinic encouraged a woman with abdominal pain who called the triage line to go to the hospital. She resisted, scared of a 2023 Florida law that required hospitals to ask whether a patient was in the U.S. with legal permission. The clinic had … Read more
ROME — Italy’s army will guard medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region starting Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, local media reported. Prefect Paolo Giovanni Grieco approved a plan to reinforce the surveillance services already operated by soldiers on … Read more
Cancer patients can ward off waves of vomiting after treatment with a relatively cheap anti-nausea pill, but some are running into coverage limits. Doctors say restrictions on the number of tablets patients receive can hurt care. Pharmacy benefit managers say their limits guard against overuse, and they offer workarounds to get more tablets. In between … Read more
WARSAW, Poland — Seeking to ease access to abortion for women needing to end a pregnancy for health reasons, Poland’s government is issuing guidelines to doctors Friday that reaffirm the legality of such procedures, based on medical recommendations. Under the current law, abortions for health reasons are permitted but the previous conservative government limited some … Read more
ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Monday defended and doubled down on his signature Medicaid program — the only one in the nation with a work requirement — further dimming chances the state could adopt a broader expansion of the taxpayer-funded low-income health plan without a work mandate any time soon. Georgia Pathways requires all … Read more
Bernard Meyer moved from the U.S. to Lithuania. Bernard Meyer When he was 27 years old, Bernard Meyer moved from the U.S. to Lithuania: the world’s happiest country for young people. After over a decade in the northeastern Europe country, he says earning less money is worth the sacrifice for a much better quality of … Read more
TOPEKA, Kan. — Fifteen states filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the Biden administration over a rule that is expected to allow 100,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to enroll next year in the federal Affordable Care Act’s health insurance. The states are seeking to block the rule from taking effect Nov. … Read more
America’s drugstores are testing smaller locations and more ways to offer care as price-sensitive shoppers look elsewhere. Customers may see Walgreens stores that are one-fourth the size of a regular location or CVS drugstores with entire primary clinics stuffed inside. If these experiments succeed, the new stores might improve access to care and create a … Read more
