Forgiving medical debt after it is sent to collections has fewer benefits – study

Experts partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a medical non-profit that buys and forgives debt, found it had little effect on people’s credit scores and mental health

Medical debt is the most common form of debt in collections in the US. But forgiving that debt once it has gone to collections may provide fewer health and financial benefits than once hoped.

A new study by researchers who partnered with RIP Medical Debt, a non-profit that buys and forgives medical debt, found “disappointing” results when people’s bills were purchased and forgiven, with little impact on people’s credit scores and willingness to go to the doctor.

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Medical studies find no trace of physical harm in Havana syndrome patients

Two new studies find no significant differences between US government officials suffering from condition and control group

Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.

One of the studies published on Monday by the federally funded National Institutes of Health (NIH) examined brain imaging, while the other looked at blood biomarkers and clinical assessments of hearing, vision, hand-eye coordination, cognitive ability and balance.

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‘Outrageous and unacceptable’: Biden and Harris decry Alabama court ruling on IVF

President and vice-president speak out against ruling while Haley attempts to retract comments on embryos being babies

The decision of the Alabama supreme court on in vitro fertilization, granting legal protections to frozen fertilized eggs, drew fire from President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders on Thursday, laying responsibility for the decision on the US supreme court’s ruling overturning Roe v Wade in 2022.

“A court in Alabama put access to some fertility treatments at risk for families who are desperately trying to get pregnant,” Biden said in prepared remarks on Thursday. “The disregard for women’s ability to make these decisions for themselves and their families is outrageous and unacceptable.”

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Doctors fighting US opioid epidemic say insurance barrier impedes treatment

Prior authorization requires permission to be sought before prescribing critical drugs, which could cost lives, doctors say

In the midst of the worst overdose epidemic in US history, addiction medicine specialists say a bureaucratic hurdle is adding to the difficulty of getting people in treatment: an insurance industry tactic called “prior authorization”.

Loathed by doctors of all stripes, prior authorization requires healthcare providers to seek permission from insurance companies before they prescribe a treatment. Doctors in addiction medicine said the requirement is both unnecessarily burdensome and could cost lives.

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Generic drugs in the US are too cheap to be sustainable, experts say

Non-brand-name drugs are one inexpensive part of the healthcare system but they’re driving some manufacturers out of business

Generic drugs are the singularity of American healthcare – they are too cheap. And it’s driving some manufacturers out of business altogether.

Drug prices regularly sparks recrimination and outrage on Capitol Hill, such as a recently announced investigation by Senate Democrats and Bernie Sanders into the price of albuterol inhalers.

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‘Happy to be alive’: US woman gets limbs amputated after kidney stone surgery

Doctors told Kentucky woman she would need quadruple amputation to save her life after kidney stone infection spread

A Kentucky woman who unexpectedly learned she would lose her legs and arms during what she thought would be a relatively routine bout with a kidney stone is confronting her plight by focusing on what she still has.

“I’m just so happy to be alive,” Lucinda “Cindy” Mullins – who’s raising two sons with her husband – recently told the Kentucky news station WLEX. “I get to see my kids. I get to see my family. I get to have my time with my husband.

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‘I feel like a criminal for quitting’: nurses in the US fight ‘stay or pay’ agreements

Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contracts

Filipino nurses are calling for the US’s top labor watchdog to review controversial “stay or pay” training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.

Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees.

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Texas judge blocks ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors

Ruling comes on same day Missouri judge rules similar law can take effect, prohibiting doctors giving crucial care to trans youth

A Texas judge on Friday blocked the state’s upcoming ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, the latest in a legal fight over efforts by conservatives to restrict such care around the country.

The decision came on the same day a Missouri judge ruled that a similar law can take effect.

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US approves first RSV vaccine for use during pregnancy to protect babies

CDC must now weigh in on vaccine to fight respiratory infection in vulnerable newborns

US regulators on Monday approved the first RSV vaccine for pregnant women so their babies will be born with protection against the scary respiratory infection.

RSV is notorious for filling hospitals with wheezing babies every fall and winter. The Food and Drug Administration cleared Pfizer’s maternal vaccination to guard against a severe case of RSV when babies are most vulnerable – from birth through six months of age.

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Pig kidney keeps working for over a month in brain-dead man’s body

Medical breakthrough marks longest pig kidney has functioned in a human, setting stage for operations in living patients

A pig’s kidney transplanted by surgeons into a brain-dead man has continued to function normally for more than a month – a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients.

The latest experiment, announced on Wednesday by New York University Langone Health, marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one, and it’s not over. Researchers will track the kidney’s performance for a second month.

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A hero twice over: US paramedic saves lives of two people in one family

Kristi Hadfield saved John Cunningham, a military veteran, in 2016 and years later, donated a kidney to his daughter, Molly

A paramedic who once restarted a US military veteran’s heart has now saved the life of that man’s daughter.

Kristi Hadfield’s life-saving heroics in benefit of retired marine John Cunningham and his daughter Molly Cunningham Jones earned a heartwarming narrative feature from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week, which went viral among social media platforms that aggregate uplifting news stories.

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FDA advisers say new Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab slows cognitive decline

Panel’s opinion could pave way for full regulatory approval next month for treatment of disease that affects 6.5m Americans

A panel that advises the Food and Drug Administration agreed that a new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease was beneficial for slowing cognitive decline, paving the way for full regulatory approval next month.

Earlier this year, the drug, known as lecanemab, was granted partial, or accelerated, approval, but that restricted it to people who could pay $26,500 a year or were enrolled in a clinical trial. Under its current status, it is not available under the public health programs Medicare and Medicaid.

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US health authorities reportedly plan to stop tracking Covid on community level

Instead of using colour-coded system focusing on spread of virus by county the CDC will track hospitalisation rates

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly plans to stop tracking the spread of Covid-19 on the community level across the country, signalling what could be the federal government’s readiness to reconsider priorities in its approach to the pandemic despite the World Health Organization’s declaration that it is still ongoing.

Instead of using its colour-coded Covid-19 tracking system that focuses on the spread of the virus by counties, the CDC will pivot its tracking focus mostly to hospitalisation rates, CNN first reported on Friday.

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Biden administration asks US supreme court to halt abortion pill restrictions

Limits slated to go into effect at 12.01am Saturday following lower court’s order revoking the FDA’s approval of mifepristone

The Biden administration appealed to the US supreme court on Friday asking it to halt an appellate ruling that adds onerous restrictions to a key abortion drug. The restrictions were slated to go into effect at 12.01am on Saturday morning.

The ruling at the center of the emergency application to the high court was issued on Wednesday night by the fifth circuit court of appeals. The US Department of Justice had asked the appeals court to block a lower court order revoking the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone in 2000.

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California governor halts $54m contract with Walgreens: ‘We’re done’

After pharmacy giant pledged not to dispense abortion medicine in states that restrict its use, Gavin Newsom cancels agreement

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday withdrew a $54m contract with Walgreens after the pharmacy giant indicated it would not sell an abortion pill by mail in some conservative-led states.

Newsom ordered state officials to not renew a contract with Walgreens to purchase specialty pharmacy prescription drugs for California’s prison healthcare system, including antiviral and antifungal drugs and medication used for congestive heart failure. Walgreens has received about $54m from the contract, which expires 30 April.

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Mississippi sees 900% rise in number of infants born with congenital syphilis

Medical professionals attribute the increasing cases of disease to inadequate prenatal healthcare and understaffed workforce

Mississippi has registered an alarming rise in the number of infants being treated for congenital syphilis.

According to hospital billing data shared with NBC, the amount of babies who have been treated for the sexually transmitted disease has increased by more than 900% over five years.

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US registers rise in highly infectious norovirus causing stomach illness

CDC says positive tests for virus, which causes nausea, diarrhea and stomach pain, peaked at 16% in January

The US is seeing a rise in the norovirus informally called the stomach flu or stomach bug, according to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with positive tests for the contagious illness peaking at 16% in January.

The rise in infections spans the US, according to the healthcare agency, with infection rates not seen since last spring.

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Surge in complications from unsafe abortions likely post-Roe, doctors warn

People in underserved medical communities in states that ban abortions may be more likely to attempt self-managed abortions

Top doctors in the US warn that surgeons should be prepared to treat more patients with complications from self-managed abortions and forced pregnancy after the overturning of Roe v Wade.

In a recent opinion piece published in the BMJ, 17 experts from medical centers and universities including the University of Chicago, Duke Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania urged surgeons to be prepared to treat medical consequences related to a person’s inability to access an abortion.

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Thousands of nurses in New York City to strike in pursuit of fair contract

Strike date at seven hospitals set for 9 January after 98.8% vote in favor, with wages, staff ratios and health insurance key issues

At least 12,000 nurses at seven hospitals in New York City are threatening to strike after their union contract expired at the end of last year. A strike date is set for 9 January.

The nurses are pushing for the hospitals to implement and enforce safe staffing ratios, improve wages in line with inflation, and maintain health insurance coverage as opposed to proposed cuts by the hospitals.

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Senate on track to pass $1.7tn funding bill to avert US government shutdown

Bill includes $45bn in military aid to Ukraine after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes

The US Senate appeared back on track Thursday to pass a $1.7tn bill to finance federal agencies through September 2023 and provide roughly $45bn in military and economic assistance to Ukraine, after lawmakers reached agreement on a final series of votes.

The Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, announced an agreement to consider 15 amendments before voting on final passage. Most of the amendments would be subject to a 60-vote threshold to pass, generally dooming them to failure in the 50-50 Senate.

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