A top California health plan is set to offer one of the world’s biggest-selling drugs for free in a bid to show the medicine can reach Americans affordably without going through the middlemen that typically control its flow.

Blue Shield of California struck an unusual deal to buy a lower-cost version of Humira directly from a manufacturer, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania has seen more cases of whooping cough than any other state this year, with 2,165 cases of the serious bacterial infection reported as of late September.

At this time in 2023, the state had reported 205 cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This year's cases represent a 956% increase from the year...Read more

It’s good news that Instagram has launched stricter controls for teen accounts, strengthening privacy settings for those under 18. Underage users’ accounts are now automatically set to private mode. The platform is also implementing tighter restrictions on the type of content teens can browse and blocking material deemed sensitive, such as ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My 17-year-old son plays high school soccer. After a recent game, he began complaining of pain in his lower abdomen that radiates down to his inner thigh. His primary care physician believes he has a sports hernia. What is this condition, and how is it treated? What other sports injuries cause groin pain?

ANSWER: A sports ...Read more

If you’ve been diagnosed with prostate cancer, exploring what may have contributed to your cancer might not be at the top of your list. However, learning about your family history and the genetic characteristics of your prostate cancer can help your care team zero in on the best treatment plan for you.

Daniel Childs, M.D., a Mayo Clinic ...Read more

The California Department of Public Health is tracking a possible case of human bird flu originating in the Central Valley.

An employee at a Central Valley dairy facility has a “presumptive positive” test result for H5N1 — the highly pathogenic virus that has attacked poultry facilities across the United States before “jumping” to ...Read more

CHICAGO — Chicago and Cook County are on pace to see a drastic decline in opioid-related fatalities in 2024, keeping with a nationwide downturn in fatal drug overdoses since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public health and law enforcement officials point to a variety of factors that could be responsible. Increased community outreach, ...Read more

Hank Greenberg might be the best baseball player you’ve never heard of.

Greenberg was the first baseman for the Detroit Tigers during the 1930s and 1940s. His career was relatively short – 13 years – and interrupted by two stints of service in World War II.

Yet outside the war years, there were glorious seasons.

...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I'm a people-pleaser by nature and have difficulty saying no or setting limits in my relationships. How can I start to create healthier boundaries in a kind yet firm way?

ANSWER: People have various types of relationships, including partners, spouses, children, friends, co-workers, neighbors and acquaintances. Different ...Read more

Lyme disease is one of the most prevalent insect-borne diseases in the country, with far more cases each year than other diseases carried by mosquitoes, fleas and ticks, such as the West Nile virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent Lyme disease data is from 2022. That year, there were more than 62,000 reported...Read more

Eli Lilly & Co.’s blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs are no longer considered to be in shortage in the US, threatening to upend the many knockoffs that became popular when patients couldn’t find the brand-name medicines.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that the shortage of Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro is resolved....Read more

Ohio Republican Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz met in an Oct. 1 vice presidential debate hosted by CBS News that was cordial and heavy on policy discussion — a striking change from the Sept. 10 debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

Vance and Walz acknowledged occasional agreement ...Read more

Eggs are an incredibly versatile food. Not only are they a natural in every meal, whether breakfast, appetizer, snack, or dessert, they are an ingredient in a wide range of foods.

The folklore

Humans have been eating eggs for about six million years, and as early as 1400 BC, birds were laying eggs specifically for consumption, according to ...Read more

The temperatures are dropping and sweater weather is nearly upon us. This is when we bust out our slow cookers or turn to comforting fall soups. Though fall can bring a variety of delicious seasonal flavors, the cooler temps can also bring on cold and flu season. While no specific food is a surefire way to prevent illness, there are certain ...Read more

An F may mean failure in school, but the letter earns high marks in your diet. The two biggest dietary Fs — fiber and fermented foods — are top priorities to help maintain healthy digestion, and they potentially offer much more. How can you fit these nutrients into meals? Can this help your overall health as well as gut health?

Fiber, ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: When I wake up in the morning and go to stand up, I have such excruciating pain in my heel that I have to sit back down on the edge of the bed. As the day goes on, it gets somewhat better, but my heel is still tender. What can be causing the pain?

ANSWER: “My heel is killing me!” is, without a doubt, one of the most common...Read more

In the year after the U.S. Supreme Court dismantled the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, more than 200 pregnant women faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss or birth, according to a new report.

The report was produced by Pregnancy Justice, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Every time Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz talks on a national stage about his and his wife’s yearslong struggle with infertility, countless people who’ve shared that same precarious journey can’t help but tear up.

Many of them are men.

Reed Osell, of Richfield, Minnesota, was shocked this election season to hear his own governor ...Read more

Starting next July, some California residents’ health insurance will pay for in-vitro fertilization, but it doesn’t apply to everyone.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Sunday that requires state-regulated, large-group employer health plans to cover the full range of services to treat infertility. The treatments can be expensive, easily ...Read more

Autumn is the season of change, with green leaves turning color and temperatures cooling. It's also the season of hay fever, or allergic rhinitis.

So how can people with fall allergies get relief? Dr. James Li, a Mayo Clinic allergist, has more in this Mayo Clinic Minute.

"Fall is a very common season for seasonal allergies to kick in," says ...Read more