Madison Muller | Bloomberg News (TNS) A surprising thing is happening to some women on weight-loss drugs who’ve struggled with fertility issues: They’re getting pregnant. That’s leading to questions about the safety of medications from Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. during pregnancy. “I thought I couldn’t have any more kids,” said Torria Leggett, 40, who had been trying for another after her first child was born in 2018. In 2022, the social worker from Whiteville, North Carolina, began taking Novo’s Ozempic to treat obesity, then switched to Lilly’s Mounjaro. As the pounds melted off ..read more

Last year, the United States Surgeon General published a report on the epidemic of loneliness and social isolation. Related Articles Health | My child’s ADHC meds are out of stock – what do I do? Health | Introducing new cat to other pets Health | MSP arrests 20 climate activists for disrupting traffic at Hanscom Field Health | States want to make it harder for health insurers to deny care, but firms might evade enforcement Health | ‘Are nursing homes our only option?’ These centers offer older adults an alternative Social isolation and loneliness are often forgotten social determinants ..read more

Lauren J. Mapp | The San Diego Union-Tribune (TNS) SAN DIEGO — Donning one of her favorite unicorn-themed nightgowns and perched comfortably in an extra large beanbag chair, Alyssa Tracy watches videos on her tablet. It’s a quiet, early April morning at the Lakeside, California, home where the 10-year-old lives with her parents, Dustin and Debra Tracy, and older sister Grace Tracy, age 12. But just a few minutes earlier, Alyssa was a little fussy. Being on spring break means her school routine is disrupted. Plus, there’s a reporter and photographer visiting. Alyssa Tracy, 10, engages with an a ..read more

If you are scrambling to get your child’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prescription refilled, you are definitely not alone. Families across the U.S. have been dealing with an ADHD medication shortage first reported in October 2022 that is now well into its second year. I’ve heard stories of parents and caregivers having to drive as far as 50 miles to find a pharmacy with the brand and dosage their child usually takes. Others have tried rationing doses or skipping meds altogether, with significant impact on their child’s well-being. Many have asked their doctors to recommend differe ..read more

Dear Dr. John, As a college student with an interest in a career in veterinary medicine, I thought I would ask you a behavioral question before I inform my parents that I will be bringing another pet home this summer. The cat I adopted is a six-year-old neutered male. He is very calm, loves to cuddle, and never tries to run away. I wonder how I should deal with introducing him at home since we have another neutered male cat and a large dog. I am also concerned that our other cat goes outdoors. At school, my new cat is strictly indoors so I do not know if I should allow him to go outdoors with ..read more

Shalina Chatlani | (TNS) Stateline.org For decades, Amina Tollin struggled with mysterious, debilitating pain that radiated throughout her body. A few years ago, when a doctor finally diagnosed her with polyneuropathy, a chronic nerve condition, she had begun to use a wheelchair. The doctor prescribed a blood infusion therapy that allowed Tollin, 40, to live her life normally. That is, until about three months ago, when it came time for reapproval and Medicaid stopped paying for the therapy. It was the result of an increasingly common process among private and public insurers known as prior au ..read more

Anna Claire Vollers | (TNS) Stateline.org CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — George Raines, a white-haired man in a red track suit and matching University of Alabama ball cap, cracked jokes as physical therapist Brad Ellis led him through a series of exercises designed to strengthen his legs. Raines, who is 79, pretended to be in pain, but his grin belied his tone of mock suffering. The men were in the therapy room at Ascension Living Alexian PACE in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where older clients spend the day getting medical care and other services. “We have some spicy patients,” said Libba Llewellyn, an occu ..read more

Julie Appleby | (TNS) KFF Health News Tax season is never fun. But some tax filers this year face an added complication: Their returns are being rejected because they failed to provide information about Affordable Care Act coverage they didn’t even know they had. While the concern about unscrupulous brokers enrolling unsuspecting people in ACA coverage has simmered for years, complaints have risen in recent months as consumers discover their health insurance coverage isn’t what they thought it was. Now such unauthorized enrollments are also causing tax headaches. Returns are getting ..read more

Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez(TNS) KFF Health News In Matthew Roach’s two years as vital statistics manager for the Arizona Department of Health Services, and 10 years previously in its epidemiology program, he has witnessed a trend in mortality rates that has rural health experts worried. As Roach tracked the health of Arizona residents, the gap between mortality rates of people living in rural areas and those of their urban peers was widening. The health disparities between rural and urban Americans have long been documented, but a recent report from the Department of Agriculture’s Econ ..read more

Julie Appleby | (TNS) KFF Health News A wide-ranging lawsuit filed Friday outlines a moneymaking scheme by which large insurance sales agency call centers enrolled people into Affordable Care Act plans or switched their coverage, all without their permission. According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, two such call centers paid tens of thousands of dollars a day to buy names of people who responded to misleading advertisements touting free government “subsidies” and other rewards. In turn, sales agents used the information to either e ..read more