Category: NPR

The pace of enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans is slower than in past years. That could mean fewer people will have health coverage — or that more people are getting insurance via their work.

The U.S. surgeon general has called on “bystanders” to be equipped with the opioid reversal drug to save lives. But when a nurse answered that call, her application for life insurance was denied. Why?

Green, a well-known voice on NPR in the 1990s, is one of a growing number of former football players with the degenerative illness Lou Gehrig’s disease. And he’s not hiding it.

To protect a developing fetus from experimental drugs or treatments that might cause birth defects, pregnant women aren’t included in many clinical trials. But that limits the safety evidence, too.

The price of insulin keeps going up. For people with Type 1 diabetes, high prices can be a life and death issue. Now a grassroots movement is pushing for change.

While opioids get all the attention, rural communities struggle with substances like meth and alcohol too. One clinic is building up capacity to treat all of them, using both medicine and counseling.

An aging population and low birth rate have led lawmakers to accept semi-skilled non-Japanese temporary laborers.

A third of people under 35 said cost led them to put off some form of health care, compared with only 8 percent of people 65 and older, a poll by NPR and IBM Watson Health found.

Incarcerated pregnant women are often shackled during medical appointments and childbirth. A provision in a criminal justice bill aims to end the practice in federal facilities.

American medical schools have historically been disproportionately white, but they are starting to attract more diverse students. The change may be the result of a diversity policy with teeth.