Your skin's microbiome could use a break from soap and cosmetics, Dr. James Hamblin says. He ditched bathing for five years to harness the power of "good" microbes.
A cook at a senior center, Matthew Fentress is one of millions of Americans whose skimpy health insurance plans leave them vulnerable to huge out-of-pocket costs when they get sick.
People of African ancestry have been excluded from many studies of brain disorders. In Baltimore, scientists, doctors and community leaders are working to make neuroscience research more diverse.
Draft documents obtained by NPR show that the federal government is preparing to enforce new data reporting requirements, threatening to withhold vital Medicare funding from noncompliant hospitals.
One in six households reported missing or delaying paying bills just so they could buy food, an NPR poll says. And many are having trouble paying the rent, especially African Americans and Latinos.
With more complete racial data for COVID-19 available, the trends are impossible to ignore: Minorities are getting sick and dying at disproportionate rates. Here's a state-by-state analysis.
Volunteers getting the shot help determine if a candidate vaccine works. But what with social distancing and masks, scientists must discern if it's the shot or these other measures preventing illness.
Early in the pandemic, most deaths occurred in large cities. But now, as COVID-19 spreads across the U.S., smaller communities are suffering many losses as well.
A CDC advisory committee is debating this issue Tuesday. Half of U.S. adults could be considered high priority, yet the initial supply is likely to be only enough for 3% to 5% of the population.
The federal loans were meant to help hospitals survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet they're coming due now — at a time when many rural hospitals are still desperate for help.
The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg comes just as the Supreme Court was about to hear a case challenging the ACA. It could end Medicaid expansion and protections for preexisting conditions.
One thing that has improved a lot over the course of the pandemic is treatment of seriously ill COVID-19 patients in intensive care units. Here's one man's success story.
Decades of living with bipolar disorder was "training" for the coronavirus pandemic, says Terri Cheney, whose new book shares lessons for navigating mental illness — and the times we live in.
Drugs are being tested that could reduce symptoms and save lives. But, given the way drugs are developed, it's unlikely that any single medicine will be anywhere as potent as a successful vaccine.
The coronavirus has affected most Americans, but NPR's latest poll shows Black, Latino and Native American households are hardest hit by the financial impact of the crisis.
Some people have skipped care because of finances or fear of the virus, doctors say. Others find medical practices closed to new patients. Many are suffering health consequences, an NPR poll finds.
An NPR poll finds 72% of Latino households in the United States are facing serious financial problems — double the share of whites who report this. Major health problems are mounting, too.
Experts fear that the economic pressures of the COVID-19 crisis are helping push some urban hospitals over the edge at the very time they are most needed in low-income communities.
Architects are already looking beyond COVID-19 to imagine the office of 2025 and beyond — an office that will keep us safe on the job, whatever pandemic virus strikes next.
Scientists are racing to develop a vaccine that proves "safe and effective." It may not prevent infection in everyone who gets it, but it still could eventually stop the pandemic. Here's how.
Some pharmaceutical companies are well into the final phase of clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine. But efforts to recruit patients from minority groups are just beginning.
Nurses say COVID-19 patients have sometimes been housed in the same units as uninfected patients. While officials have penalized nursing homes for such failures, hospitals have seen less scrutiny.
There are dividing lines when it comes to how families are weathering the pandemic: Those living in big cities, those making less than $100,000 a year, and Latino and Black families are faring worst.
