Employees of small businesses and self-employed workers may soon be able to get cheaper health insurance under a new federal rule unveiled Tuesday, though critics warn coverage might not be comprehensive and could leave other consumers paying higher prices.

The rule expands the use of association health plans, in which small businesses, ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- In a bid to revive the Republican effort to roll back the Affordable Care Act, a group of leading conservative health care advocates is proposing a new strategy to overhaul the law.

The plan -- which is outlined in a seven-page blueprint unveiled Tuesday --faces long odds on Capitol Hill, where GOP leaders remain wary of reopening...Read more

The number of babies born hooked on their mothers' opioids has been soaring for almost two decades, yet experts still are not sure whether morphine or methadone is best to gradually break the infants' drug dependence.

A rigorous new government-funded study has found that methadone has a slight advantage over morphine, modestly reducing babies' ...Read more

As teacher strikes flared this spring in more than half a dozen states, from West Virginia to Arizona, protesters bemoaned stagnant salaries, overcrowded classrooms and a lack of basic supplies like textbooks and computers.

But often missing from hand-scrawled placards and fiery speeches was an issue that has contributed greatly to the ...Read more

If my 3-year-old goes more than two hours without a snack, he turns into a screaming, hangry monster. And if we're being honest, so do I.

But Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan, which ended Thursday, and they don't all transform into the Hulk for a month.

UNC researchers have been studying hunger and anger and have found that ...Read more

Dear Mayo Clinic: Is juicing as healthy as some proclaim, or are some nutrients lost in the process?

A: Juicing -- extracting the juice from fresh fruits and vegetables -- can be a good way to add nutrients to your diet. If you struggle to eat the recommended five to nine servings of fruits and vegetables each day, juicing can help you get ...Read more

Psychedelic drugs' mind-expanding properties may be rooted in their ability to prompt neurons to branch out and create new connections with other brain cells, new research has found.

This discovery may explain why psychedelic drugs appear to be a valuable treatment for a wide range of psychiatric diseases, scientists said.

In test tubes as ...Read more

California's nonprofit hospitals are providing sharply less free and reduced-cost medical care than they did a few years ago, raising questions about the role and obligations of those institutions in the age of Obamacare.

About 170 nonprofit general acute hospitals provided $651 million of charity care in 2016, down from $985 million in 2011, ...Read more

ATLANTA -- It's no secret that cupcakes in the break room provide little nutrition. But a new report reveals that many Americans might be overindulging in snacks.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently conducted a study, presented at a American Society for Nutrition meeting, to determine how many unhealthy ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho -- For years Democrats ran from the health care issue as though it were a heap of flaming rubble, which, politically speaking, it was.

Passage of the Affordable Care Act cost them control of Congress, gave rise to the upstart tea party movement and helped install Donald Trump in the White House.

But polls show support for the law ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Like many proud parents, Pam Olson of Woodbury, Minn., had a good cry watching her daughter Bridget graduate from college recently.

Unlike many parents, however, her tears carried added weight. She once doubted she'd see this happy day.

At 39, Olson was found to have colon cancer. Within weeks, she'd had surgery to remove part ...Read more

You see them counted on food labels and now on restaurant menus. But do you know what calories are?

Anya Guy, a Mayo Clinic dietitian, says calories are units of energy. And even though they are all technically the same, the effect they have on your body can differ depending on what kinds of food you eat.

"A calorie is a unit of energy," Guy ...Read more

The U.S. suicide rate is increasing in almost every state, according a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide is listed as a leading cause of death in the report, and more than half the people who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition. The CDC says "other problems contribute to suicide, ...Read more

Fish oil supplements may ease depression in some people. Some studies in adults suggest that omega-3 fatty acids may help treat mild to moderate depression, but more research is needed. Fish oil is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, which play an important role in brain function. People with depression may have low blood levels of brain ...Read more