ArcaMax

Proposals to ban or regulate kratom, a plant-based substance sold in gas stations, convenience stores and vape shops, are making headlines in local newspapers across the United States. But as lawmakers debate whether to regulate or ban kratom, public health problems associated with the drug continue to rise.

In late March 2026, the ...Read more

Six months after a West Virginia man died following a protracted battle with his health insurer over doctor-recommended cancer care, the state’s Republican governor signed a bill intended to curb the harm of insurance denials.

West Virginia’s Public Employees Insurance Agency enrolls nearly 215,000 people — state workers, as well as their...Read more

Do you ever find yourself at the end of a nonstop day feeling like you haven’t made progress on the things that are actually important to you? If so, you’re not alone.

If you are a person with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, you might find it even harder to direct your effort toward what’s most important – ...Read more

In 2013, a scientist at Abbott Laboratories saw study results with potentially big implications for the company’s profits and the lives of some of the world’s most fragile people: preterm infants.

The upshot, she wrote in an email: Babies fed rival Mead Johnson Nutrition’s acidified liquid human milk fortifier — a nutritional supplement...Read more

Last summer, Lorena Alvarado Hill received a series of unexpected medical bills.

A teacher’s aide in Melbourne, Florida, Hill is a single mom who works shifts at J.Crew on the weekends to send her daughter to college. Hill and her mother, who lives with her, had been enrolled in an insurance plan through HealthFirst.

Hill paid nothing toward...Read more

Last August, as part of the federal government’s crackdown on people in the country illegally, the Trump administration sent states the names of hundreds of thousands of Medicaid enrollees with orders to determine whether they were ineligible based on immigration status.

But seven months later, findings from five states shared with KFF Health...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — A once-daily pill could change how doctors treat teens with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic heart condition that can block blood flow, a Philadelphia researcher has found.

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia cardiologist Joseph Rossano led an international trial involving 44 patients ages 12 to 17 that studied a drug ...Read more

Complaints about enrollment fraud in Affordable Care Act health insurance coverage have bedeviled the federal marketplace for years.

Now, the Trump administration is claiming wins in reducing the problem while simultaneously saying more controls are needed.

It has proposed a sweeping set of ACA regulations for next year, including stepped-up ...Read more

Cancer is becoming increasingly common among young people, with cases slowly and steadily rising every year for the past decade. And what type of insurance adolescents and young adults have affects at what stage of cancer they’re diagnosed and how long they survive.

As researchers who study cancer disparities in young adults, we ...Read more

MCT is a type of fat called medium chain triglycerides found naturally in coconut oil and palm kernel oil and offered as supplements. MCTs were developed in the 1950s from coconut and palm kernel oil, and were first used medically for mal- absorption disorders, and more recently they have been promoted for weight loss and enhanced athletic ...Read more

Q: I’ve heard that you shouldn’t exercise in the evening because it can interfere with restful sleep. Is this true?

A: Traditional sleep hygiene guidelines include the recommendation to avoid exercising late in the day. However, research suggests that many people can exercise in the evening without it affecting their sleep as long as it’s...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My 10-year-old daughter was just diagnosed with scoliosis. The curve is 19 degrees, and I have read that it could worsen with time. Will she need to wear a brace? Or is surgery in her future?

ANSWER: While scoliosis is often stable in adults, it’s important that children and teenagers with scoliosis be followed closely, ...Read more

Whether you’re trying to eat less meat or you’re a vegetarian or vegan, having a plant-based meal once (or a few times) a week is always a good thing. Research shows that eating a mostly plant-based diet can help reduce inflammation, boost immunity, and benefit your overall health in so many ways, including lowering your risk of heart ...Read more

On the coffee table at her home in Atlanta, Sarah Boim has a pile of documents from her old job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They are printouts of her employment records.

Boim lost her job in the first big wave of CDC firings — more than 1,000 people were suddenly let go last February.

“This is the termination letter....Read more

BALTIMORE — Scott Price was working with a wood splitter when it kicked out a fragment of a log, pinning his left hand against a metal plate and severing his thumb and forefinger. After his local hospital in Poconos, Pennsylvania, failed to reattach the digits, Price came to MedStar Health’s Curtis National Hand Center at Union Memorial ...Read more