Health

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Medicare shelled out $5.7 billion on Ozempic and other similar diabetes drugs in 2022, up from $57 million in 2018, according to a new KFF analysis. The pricey medications, which include Mounjaro and Rybelsus, have become super popular for the treatment of diabetes and for weight loss. But Medicare

By Brenda Goodman, CNN (CNN) — When doctors told Katrina Barry that she had a rare and serious condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension or PAH, they warned her not to Google it. Come on, she thought; they wanted a young woman who was bound for graduate school, who had survived a transatlantic plane flight while

By Meg Tirrell and Tierney Sneed, CNN (CNN) — In 1937, a drugmaker called S.E. Massengill Co. came up with what seemed like an improvement on an effective medicine for sore throats: a liquid formulation that tasted like raspberry. The only problem: The new formulation of the drug, called sulfanilamide, used diethylene glycol, which is

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — Mifepristone can continue to be mailed to patients without an in-person visit with a doctor after the US Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit that challenged regulation of the abortion pill. Mifepristone was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration decades ago and has been shown to be safe

By Mira Cheng, CNN (CNN) — The US Food and Drug Administration is again proposing a ban on electrical stimulation devices used to reduce or stop self-injurious or aggressive behavior, the agency said in a statement Monday. Electrical stimulation devices deliver electrical shocks through electrodes attached to a person’s skin to attempt to reduce or

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — An undertaker turned academic, Alexandra Morton-Hayward became interested in brains — specifically how they decompose — during her former job. “I worked for years with the dead. My own experience is that the brain is pretty quick to liquefy (postmortem),” she said. “So it was a real shock when

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — Medication abortion has become increasingly common since it first became available in the United States two decades ago, and a new study finds that requests for abortion pills through sources outside of the formal health-care system surged after the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision removed the federal right to

By Mira Cheng, CNN (CNN) — There was a significant increase in fatal car crashes in the United States around the time of the 2017 total solar eclipse, a new analysis shows. The analysis, published as a research letter Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found a 31% increase in traffic risks around the

By Dana Santas, CNN (CNN) — Have your legs ever been so stiff and tired that simply bending down to tie your shoes felt like a Herculean task? Whether muscular discomfort comes from an intense workout or too much sitting, wanting to soothe sore muscles is a shared human experience. But because it’s an unrealistic

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — Trying to imagine fat, fuzzy white lambs, jumping one by one over a fence, is a well-known remedy for sleeplessness. When I used to try this, I would insert a dapper black sheep with a red bow tie now and again — a nod to my inner rebel. I

By Madeline Holcombe and Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — In the time Catherine, Princess of Wales, spent away from the public before revealing her cancer diagnosis, one of her biggest priorities was finding the right way to tell her children, she said. “Most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte

By Meg Tirrell, CNN (CNN) — Drugmaker Eli Lilly warned this week that two of its formulations of insulin would be temporarily out of stock through the beginning of April, citing a “brief delay in manufacturing.” The 10-milliliter vials of Humalog and insulin lispro injection will be in short supply at wholesalers and some pharmacies,

By AJ Willingham, CNN (CNN) — What happens when others assume people with Down Syndrome can’t hit hard, aim high or drink a darn margarita? Well, it can become a reality. A new Down Syndrome awareness ad cuts right to the philosophical heart of this often-misunderstood condition, reminding us that the way we treat people

By Sandee LaMotte, CNN (CNN) — For 59-year-old Victor Sharrah, the terrifying symptoms began on a winter day in Nashville. “I just woke up and was sitting on the couch watching TV when my roommate came into the room, and (looking at him) I’m like, ‘What am I seeing?’ Then his girlfriend walked in and

By Andrea Kane, CNN Season 9 of the podcast Chasing Life With Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the intersection between body weight and health. We delve into a wide range of topics, including why losing weight is so hard, the new weight loss drugs and how to talk to kids about weight. You can listen here. (CNN) —

By Jen Christensen, CNN (CNN) — Almost half of the tap water in the United States is contaminated with chemicals known as “forever chemicals,” according to a study from the US Geological Survey. The number of people drinking contaminated water may be even higher than what the study found, however, because the researchers weren’t able

By Deidre McPhillips, CNN (CNN) — With the arrival of spring, the United States is easing out of respiratory virus season, a familiar pattern that has been challenged by Covid-19 for the past four years. The addition of a novel germ has complicated and expanded respiratory virus season, which was already notoriously difficult to predict.

By Tami Luhby, CNN (CNN) — Medicare could start covering Wegovy for certain senior citizens and other beneficiaries with a history of heart disease now that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s application to add cardiovascular benefits to the medicine’s label. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it