The routine is familiar for most people: When checking in for an appointment with a doctor or other health care provider, patients typically complete and sign a pile of paperwork, including a form that contains some version of the statement, “I agree to pay for all charges not covered by my insurance company.”

Patients may not feel ...Read more

Health insurance companies are under increasing scrutiny for allegedly using artificial intelligence bots and algorithms to swiftly deny patients routine or lifesaving care — without a human actually reviewing their claims.

The high-profile killing late last year of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has focused even more attention on so-...Read more

It's an ability and skill often taken for granted. It affects quality of life and has been linked to heart disease and stroke. As we age and our muscles weaken, balance becomes crucial to staying active and supporting a healthy heart and brain.

"Balance is important because it's one of the attributes that allows you do to physical activity," ...Read more

Editor's note: March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.

Colorectal cancer is no longer a disease of older people. People in their 50s, 40s and younger are increasingly being diagnosed with cancers of the colon and rectum. Incidence rates increased by about 2% per year in people younger than 50 during the past decade, according to the ...Read more

An estimated 55 million people are believed to be living with dementia, according to health officials. Vascular diseases contribute to approximately 25% of all diagnoses.

When blood vessels are damaged or blocked, it can deprive your brain of vital oxygen and nutrients, which could lead to a condition called vascular dementia.

"Vascular ...Read more

“On Feb. 25, I voted yes on a budget resolution that protects Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid while cutting some spending elsewhere.”

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), in a YouTube video posted March 4, 2025

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On Feb. 25, Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., voted in favor of a House budget resolution that calls for sharp cuts in spending ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Extraordinary things happen in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.

The sick rise from bed with new hearts and lungs. Machines valiantly take over for faltering kidneys, heart valves, bronchial tubes. All patients enter with grave health concerns, and the vast majority leave recovered, or ...Read more

WASHINGTON — A study funded by the National Institutes of Health that would test if an antibiotic can prevent sexually transmitted infections in women has been terminated by the Trump administration as part of its ongoing attempt to halt what it considers “diversity, equity and inclusion” in scientific research.

While the drug has been ...Read more

Amid a measles outbreak that has seen U.S. cases for the year so far surge past the total tracked in 2024, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has responded, in part, by suggesting alternatives to vaccination, including treating with vitamin A.

"We're providing vitamin A," Kennedy told Sean Hannity in an interview that aired on Fox News in ...Read more

Philadelphia’s street opioid supply – or “dope” market – is constantly changing. As health care workers and researchers who care for people who use drugs in our community, we have witnessed these shifts firsthand.

New adulterants are frequently added to the mix. They bring additional and often uncertain risks for people who ...Read more

Berberine is a bioactive compound from a range of plants grown throughout the globe.

Overview

Berberine has proposed benefits ranging from relieving canker sores to managing blood glucose levels in type 2 diabetes. This supplement also has a history of use in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Special functions

Berberine has a well-documented ...Read more

At the end of the day, your long-awaited dinner is probably the only priority you’re focused on. You might scarf down a cheesy bowl of pasta or grab a fast-food sandwich on your way home. What’s hard to anticipate is your body’s reaction after you’ve finished eating — although you're done with dinner, your body is just getting started ...Read more

For neuroscientist Sara Lazar, a form of meditation called open awareness is as fundamental to her day as breathing.

“I just become aware that I am aware, with no particular thing that I focus on,” explains Lazar, an associate researcher in the psychiatry department at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of psychology at ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My husband and I want to expand our family and are trying to get pregnant with our first baby. I’ve read about family planning couples can do before conceiving and learned about carrier screening. We don’t have a family history of genetic conditions, but we want to know if there is a chance of passing a genetic disorder to ...Read more

Most people probably would not connect seasonal allergies with their hearts. Itchy, watery eyes and stuffy noses, sure – but not cardiovascular issues.

Researchers are finding signs of just such a link between allergies, asthma and heart health. And while nobody is saying your next sneeze is cause for alarm, experts say the connection is ...Read more

BOULDER, Colo. — Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state’s first “healing centers,” where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer.

The dawn of state-regulated psychedelic mushrooms has arrived in Colorado, nearly two ...Read more

WASHINGTON — As the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. in 25 years spreads, health experts warn that more people choosing to be unvaccinated for infectious diseases will make it harder to replicate past successful responses to outbreaks.

Measles, a respiratory virus, was effectively eliminated in 2000, when the U.S. only saw 86 cases. ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The Alaska State Medical Board is asking the Legislature to ban hormonal and surgical treatments for minors seeking to transition from one gender to another.

The board — whose members were chosen by Gov. Mike Dunleavy — on Thursday agreed to state that it “opposes hormonal and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria...Read more

SAN DIEGO — Monday was World Tuberculosis Day and, as usual, Americans had reason to celebrate, with incidence rates that are among the best anywhere, according to the World Health Organization. But that does not mean there is not room for further improvement, especially in San Diego County.

In a recent announcement calling for greater ...Read more