People with sickle cell disease aren't fueling the opioid crisis, research shows. Yet some ER doctors still treat patients seeking relief for agonizing sickle cell crises as potential addicts.
Anger and fear have turned to pragmatic hope in the year since the people of Fort Scott, Kan., lost their hospital to corporate downsizing. A community health center remains. So far, so good.
NPR tells the exclusive, behind-the-scenes story of the first person with a genetic disorder to be treated in the United States with the revolutionary gene-editing technique CRISPR.
It will now be easier for the government to inspect shops where workers might get exposed to lung-damaging silica dust. But it's unclear how much it will affect countertop workers.
Though it has been on the books for nearly a decade, the Affordable Care Act faces a big court challenge right now that could overturn it. Here's what happens if the federal health law goes away.
Many buses and vans can safely accommodate and restrain a passenger's wheelchair, but airline passengers are required to transfer to the plane's standard seat. A grassroots group hopes to change that.
NPR found the vast majority of student loan borrowers with disabilities aren't getting the debt relief they're owed. Now, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is asking for an investigation.
Hundreds of thousands of borrowers are eligible to have their student loans erased because a disability keeps them from working. NPR found many will likely never get the debt relief they're owed.
In 1990, BJ Miller was electrocuted by a train. That accident during college took most of his limbs, but the event and his recovery inspired him to pursue a career as a palliative care physician.
Fans of "Medicare for All" are betting that most Democrats who vote have moved left since 2008, at least on health care. But results from a mix of recent polls suggest voters' views aren't clear-cut.
The opioid epidemic is intergenerational, with tens of thousands of babies born every year dependent on opioids. Advocates worry lawsuits against the drug industry might overlook these children.
"Street medicine" programs, like one in Atlanta, seek out people living in back alleys and under highways. The public health outreach improves patients' health and is cost-effective, hospitals find.
The story of the first worker in the U.S. to suffer lung damage after cutting a new kind of countertop material shows the way a workplace hazard emerged in this country.
ACA plans for 2020 are cheaper than last year — premiums lower, on average. And in some areas, people who qualify for federal subsidies could end up with no monthly payment. But read the fine print.
Five U.S. territories say if Congress doesn't quickly allocate more funding for their Medicaid programs, they will be forced to make brutal triage decisions that will likely cost American lives.
As U.S. presidential candidates prep for their next debate, a doctor-to-be asks them, and us all, to remember that even universal access to health care won't fix other disparities that hurt health.
For some patients in pain, opioids are still part of the long-term solution, doctors say. But by adding meditation, hypnosis or other treatments, the opioid dose can be reduced.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore, now has a master's program dedicated to the science and therapeutics of medical weed because of a growing number of students looking for expertise in the field.
Service dogs are a common sight at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, near Washington, D.C. But this special canine trains would-be healers how to pick the right dog for a wounded veteran.
Montana is one of several states that want Medicaid recipients to prove they work a steady, minimum number of hours monthly. Will federal courts allow the Montana rule change to stand?
People who rely on plug-in health devices or medicine that requires refrigeration are scrambling to find ways to avoid potentially life-threatening disruptions now and in future fire season shutdowns.
Colorado, like a number of states, is struggling with huge piles of returned mail linked to public aid programs such as Medicaid or food stamps. But is dropping people from such assistance the answer?
Calming techniques officers learn during training for intervening in a mental health crisis don't seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Police say meth calls can be much more dangerous.
