Drugs Archives - Page 5 of 66 - 51��Ƶ Health News

Supreme Court Upholds Bans on Gender-Affirming Care

Episode 402

June 20, 2025

The Supreme Court this week said Tennessee may continue to enforce its law banning most types of gender-affirming care for minors. The ruling is likely to greenlight similar laws in two dozen states. And the Senate is preparing to vote on a budget reconciliation bill that includes even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House version. Victoria Knight of Axios, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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An Arm and a Leg

The Prescription Drug Playbook, Part I

Season 13, Episode 9

June 18, 2025

In Part 1 of a two-part series on dealing with the high price of prescription drugs, a father explains the strategies he used to get his daughter the medicine she needs to treat her epilepsy.

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A teenage boy and his mother sit on a teal couch, side by side, smiling at one another. A dog is seated on each of their laps.

A Revolutionary Drug for Extreme Hunger Offers Clues to Obesity’s Complexity

A new drug is helping families who’ve spent years padlocking fridges, chaining garbage cans, and hiding food as their children with Prader-Willi syndrome deal with unrelenting hunger. But additional progress — and a broader understanding of obesity — is now under threat as the government dismantles the pipeline for promising new research.

By Claire Sibonney

June 16, 2025

In Axing mRNA Contract, Trump Delivers Another Blow to US Biosecurity, Former Officials Say

The Trump administration is eroding national pandemic flu defenses as it guts health agencies, cuts research and health budgets, and withdraws funding for bird flu vaccines, health security experts said.

By Amy Maxmen

June 6, 2025

Two bottles of clear medical fluid labeled fluorouracil, for IV use only.

Two Patients Faced Chemo. The One Who Survived Demanded a Test To See if It Was Safe.

Worried that President Donald Trump’s FDA might not act, a panel of cancer experts recommended that doctors consider testing before dosing patients with a commonly used but sometimes deadly cancer drug. It came too late for many patients.

By Arthur Allen

June 4, 2025

A photo of a woman sitting on a hospital bed with her legs off to the side. She smiles, facing the camera.

Trump Won’t Force Medicaid To Cover GLP-1s for Obesity. A Few States Are Doing It Anyway.

Late last year, South Carolina Medicaid approved a class of medications known as GLP-1s to treat obesity, placing it among the few state programs covering these effective but expensive drugs. But access remains limited, even for patients covered by Medicaid, because of stringent prerequisites that must be satisfied before starting the drug.

By Lauren Sausser

May 21, 2025

51��Ƶ Health News & PolitiFact HealthCheck

Trump Exaggerates Speed and Certainty of Prescription Drug Price Reductions

According to the timeline in the May 12 executive order, prescription drug price reductions would not happen "almost immediately,” but rather could take months or years. And extending the savings to Americans outside federal health insurance programs such as Medicare would likely require congressional action.

By Louis Jacobson, PolitiFact

May 20, 2025

A photo of President Trump seated at a desk, gesturing with his hands, holding a magic marker. Three men stand behind him; they are heads of federal health agencies.

How Trump Aims To Slash Federal Support for Research, Public Health, and Medicaid

One thing experts agree on: The damage from the funding cuts will be varied and immense.

By Elisabeth Rosenthal

May 20, 2025

A photo of an area in a pharmacy with filled prescriptions.

Pharmacists Stockpile Most Common Drugs on Chance of Targeted Trump Tariffs

While Big Pharma seems ready to weather the tariff storm, independent pharmacists and makers of generic drugs — which account for 90% of U.S. prescriptions — see trouble ahead for patients.

By Jackie Fortiér and Arthur Allen

May 16, 2025

What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

GOP Tries To Cut Billions in Health Benefits

Episode 397

May 15, 2025

GOP-controlled House committees approved parts of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” this week, including more than $700 billion in cuts to health programs over the next decade — mostly from Medicaid, which covers people with low incomes or disabilities. Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress for the first time since taking office and told lawmakers that Americans shouldn’t take medical advice from him. Julie Appleby of 51��Ƶ Health News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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A photo of a man in a suit walking outside a courthouse with another man following behind him.

Pain Clinic CEO Faced 20 Years for Making Patients ‘Human Pin Cushions.’ He Got 18 Months.

Michael Kestner, CEO of Pain MD, was convicted of 13 fraud felonies after his company gave patients hundreds of thousands of questionable injections at clinics in Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina.

By Brett Kelman

May 15, 2025

A photo of an elderly woman sitting with her walker in the common area of a nursing home.

The New Old Age

Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: The Perils of Elderspeak

A new training program teaches workers to stop the baby talk and address older people as adults.

By Paula Span

May 9, 2025

What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

Cutting Medicaid Is Hard — Even for the GOP

Episode 396

May 8, 2025

Republicans on Capitol Hill are struggling to reach consensus on cutting the Medicaid program as they search for nearly a trillion dollars in savings over the next decade — as many observers predicted. Meanwhile, turmoil continues at the Department of Health and Human Services, with more controversial cuts and personnel moves, including the sudden nomination of Casey Means, an ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s, to become surgeon general. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 51��Ƶ Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who co-reported the latest “Bill of the Month” feature, about an unexpected bill for what seemed like preventive care.

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A photo of a mail package containing mifepristone and misoprostol.

Despite Historic Indictment, Doctors Will Keep Mailing Abortion Pills Across State Lines

When a New York physician was indicted for shipping abortion medications to a woman in Louisiana, it stoked fear across the network of doctors and medical clinics who engage in similar work. But some physicians vowed not to stop.

By Rosemary Westwood, WWNO

May 6, 2025

An illustration in watercolor of a syringe and vaccine vial against a soft background of dotted light.

Trump Team’s $500 Million Bet on Old Vaccine Technology Puzzles Scientists

Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS said an enormous, noncompetitive flu vaccine development grant to two favored NIH leaders would ensure “transparency, effectiveness, and comprehensive preparedness.” But their vaccine is in early stages, relies on old technology, and is just one of scores of similar efforts.

By Arthur Allen

May 5, 2025

What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

American Health Gets a Pink Slip

Episode 391

April 3, 2025

The Department of Health and Human Services underwent an unprecedented purge this week, as thousands of employees from the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies were fired, placed on administrative leave, or offered transfers to far-flung Indian Health Service facilities. Altogether, the layoffs mean the federal government, in a single day, shed hundreds if not thousands of combined years of health and science expertise. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss this enormous breaking story and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Appleby, who reported and wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature about a short-term health plan and a very expensive colonoscopy.

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A photo of a Black woman posing for a photo while holding a sign that reads, "Stop overdose." Others hold signs behind her.

Systemic Sickness

Hit Hard by Opioid Crisis, Black Patients Further Hurt by Barriers to Care

The rate of overdose deaths from opioids has grown significantly among Black people. Yet, even after a nonfatal overdose, this group is half as likely to be referred to or get treatment compared with white people. Advocates and researchers cite implicit bias, insurance denials, and other systemic issues.

By Melba Newsome

April 2, 2025

A photo of a pharmacist writing notes on a clipboard.

Montana’s Small Pharmacies Behind Bill To Corral Pharmacy Benefit Managers

A bill designed to force PBMs to pay higher fees to independent drugstores sailed through the state House, but lobbyists are marshaling their forces to kill the measure in the Senate.

By Mike Dennison

March 31, 2025

What the Health? From 51��Ƶ Health News

Federal Health Work in Flux

Episode 389

March 20, 2025

It’s the Trump administration vs. the federal courts, as the Department of Government Efficiency continues to try to cancel federal contracts and programs and fire workers. But in the haste to cut things, jobs and programs are being eliminated even if they align with the new administration’s goal to “Make America Healthy Again.” Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 51��Ƶ Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.

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A close-up photo of a syringe inserted into a vial.

Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants

Two senior scientists say National Institutes of Health officials advised them to remove references to mRNA vaccines in grant applications, and they fear the Trump administration will abandon a promising field of medical research.

By Arthur Allen

March 16, 2025

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