Surprise medical bills -- those unexpected and often pricey bills patients face when they get care from a doctor or hospital that isn't in their insurance network -- are the health care problem du jour in Washington, with congressional lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and the White House calling for action.

These policymakers agree on the...Read more

During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., answered questions from "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski about the latest lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. "The most important part of Obamacare, as you know, Mika, is the protection against preexisting condition discrimination that extended ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My brother was diagnosed with stage 0 squamous cell carcinoma in situ in one of his vocal cords. He has been through several endoscopic surgeries, but the carcinoma keeps coming back. His doctors do not recommend radiation therapy. Are more surgeries the answer, or are other treatments available?

ANSWER: For your brother's ...Read more

Menopause marks the end of a woman's fertility. By definition, it occurs one year after a woman's last menstrual period. While menopausecan happen in a woman's 40s or 50s, the average age is 51 in the U.S. Jacqueline Thielen, M.D., a women's health expert from Mayo Clinic, saysmenopause is a journey that occurs over many years.

Changes in a ...Read more

Delivering remarks on surprise medical billing, which is a concern that has drawn bipartisan interest, President Donald Trump waded into another high-profile health issue: making sure insurance protects people who have preexisting health conditions.

"We will always protect patients with preexisting conditions, very importantly," Trump said on ...Read more

Mayo Clinic will start taking referrals for specialty care from a company that runs on-site clinics for employers, the latest example of a Minnesota-based health system sizing up the market for patients who get health care in the workplace.

With the new agreement, Rochester-based Mayo Clinic will offer services to patients with costly and risky...Read more

Frequent headaches can interfere with your daily life. But healthy lifestyle choices can help you head off the pain. Start with the basics, including diet, exercise and relaxation.

Nearly everyone is familiar with the pain of tension-type headaches. But that doesn't mean that the world stops when the pain strikes. Over-the-counter or ...Read more

It's amazing how far some people will go to accomplish their dream.

Dr. Fouad Chebib grew up in a small town in Lebanon. After finishing medical school in Lebanon's capital city, Beirut, Chebib chased his dream across the world to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

"I'm one of the kidney doctors," Dr. Chebib says. "I am a physician-scientist."

...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: Do spray sunscreens work as well as sunscreen lotions, and do I need to buy different sunscreen for my kids than what I use myself?

ANSWER: Sunscreen that is marketed for children is OK to use, but children 6 months and older can use the same sunscreen as adults. Babies younger than 6 months should not wear sunscreen but ...Read more

Some mornings it might feel like you can't get enough of it, but a new study suggests too much coffee can be harmful.

Studies have found that coffee consumption "may help prevent several chronic diseases, including Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Parkinson's disease and liver disease." There is little evidence that drinking moderate amounts of coffee...Read more

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention caused quite a stir recently with its consumer warning on raw chicken.

Don't bother with washing, it said in an April 26 tweet. Doing so can spread germs from the chicken to other food or utensils.

Well, what did they do that for? The black Twittersphere lit into them. Everybody and their mamas ...Read more

Jellyfish have a mighty sting as hundreds of beachgoers in Florida have discovered. More than 800 people were reported to have been stung recently at Central Florida beaches.

Dr. Michael Boniface, an emergency department physician with Mayo Clinic, says most jellyfish that beachgoers encounter in the U.S. contiguous lower 48 states can cause ...Read more

The health care debate has Democrats on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trail facing renewed pressure to make clear where they stand: Are they for "Medicare for All"? Or will they take up the push to protect the Affordable Care Act?

Obamacare advocates have found a powerful ally in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in a recent "60 ...Read more

Each new update in the nationwide surge of measles cases takes Dr. Paul Offit back to the battlefield that was Children's Hospital of Philadelphia during a regional outbreak that began in 1990. By the time it ended the following year, more than 1,400 city and suburban residents had contracted the disease and nine children were dead.

Then an ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Thirty trillion dollars, even in U.S. budget terms, is a lot of money.

That's the rough estimate from some analysts of the 10-year cost of Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" plan, just one of many expensive social programs that some of the 21 Democrats seeking to replace President Donald Trump have proposed.

To pay for those...Read more

California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the state to provide health coverage to low-income young adults who are in the country illegally, but his plan would siphon public health dollars from several counties battling surging rates of sexually transmitted diseases and, in some cases, measles outbreaks.

Public health officials describe the proposed ...Read more

Popeye was right when he sang "I'm strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach."

The legendary, one-eyed comic character's nearly 100-year-old message to kids about the benefits of eating the leafy green vegetable still holds true.

Researchers at Washington State University and Florida State University found that telling children about the ...Read more