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​​Don’t get caught by the Medicare tax torpedo: A retirement expert’s tips to steer clear

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

When retirees map out income in retirement, most think about their tax bracket, investment returns and required minimum distributions (RMDs).

What often gets overlooked is how Medicare premiums can rise dramatically if income crosses certain thresholds — a penalty known as the income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA).

For higher-...Read more

Environmental Nutrition: Debunking dietary deceptions: Do eggs raise your cholesterol?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

For years, even decades, common wisdom was that if you wanted to eat a heart-healthy diet, you should avoid eating eggs, which are high in cholesterol. Actually, egg whites were given a pass, because the yolks contain all the cholesterol. The rationale was that dietary cholesterol would raise levels of cholesterol in the blood, especially LDL (�...Read more

6 ways to eat more fiber during the holidays

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

How we eat during the holidays can be much different than what we normally eat the rest of the year. One big change during this season? Your fiber intake may take a hit. Consuming enough dietary fiber daily supports your health in many ways, so check out these dietitian-approved tips for eating more fiber during the holiday season.

1. Start ...Read more

6 mistakes that sabotage your workout

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sticking to an exercise program is a major commitment. It takes time, dedication, and hard work to reap benefits such as stronger muscles, increased endurance, better balance, and sharper thinking. The last thing you want to do is undermine your efforts.

But it’s easy to make workout mistakes that wind up hurting you, such as doing an ...Read more

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Tonsil cancer: What is it and how do you prevent it?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My brother had lingering hoarseness and a sore throat. When he finally went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with tonsil cancer. He’s in treatment, but it’s been tough. Chemo makes him sick, and radiation is doing a number on his throat and salivary glands, making it hard to eat. He’s on a feeding tube, but he has lost a ...Read more

How this Florida Keys diver and his 'spare part' helped a boy needing transplant

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

MIAMI -- Aaron got a lot of surprises for his ninth birthday.

He went on his first Disney cruise. And he got a special gift from a Florida Keys scuba diver, one he will carry with him for the rest of his life: a new kidney.

Since he was a baby, Aaron has dealt with a condition that has slowly degraded his kidneys. On Monday, about three months...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

This HIV expert refused to censor data, then quit the CDC

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

John Weiser, a doctor and researcher, has treated people with HIV since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. He joined the CDC’s HIV prevention team in 2011 to help lead its Medical Monitoring Project, the only in-depth survey of HIV across the United States. The project has shaped the country’s response to the epidemic over two ...Read more

Angela Swann/KFF Health News/TNS

How delays and bankruptcy let a nursing home chain avoid paying settlements for injuries and deaths

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Nancy Hunt arrived at an emergency room from a Genesis HealthCare nursing home in Pennsylvania in such dreadful shape, including maggots infesting her gangrened foot, that the hospital called an elder abuse hotline and then the police, her son alleged in a lawsuit.

Hunt died five days later. Her death certificate said the foot injury was a “...Read more

Dominic Di Palermo/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Illinois should recommend hepatitis B vaccines for all newborns, committee says, despite federal guidance

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Illinois should continue to recommend that nearly all newborns be vaccinated against hepatitis B, a state advisory committee decided Tuesday, in a move that could represent another break with federal vaccine guidance.

The Illinois Department of Public Health Immunization Advisory Committee voted unanimously Tuesday that Illinois “reaffirm and...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

Health care premiums set to soar as GOP leaders see no expanded credits

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson Tuesday all but ruled out approving an extension of Obamacare health insurance premium subsidies before Congress ends its 2025 session later this week, virtually guaranteeing consumer costs for the policies will double next year.

Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., and a small group of other House Republicans ...Read more

Olesia Bilkei/Dreamstime

US is spending big on child mental health, addiction treatment, study says

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

As a children’s emergency room doctor in San Francisco, Ashley Foster has found herself treating an increasing number of adolescents for substance abuse, anxiety, depression and other behavioral health issues over the last decade. Often, they arrive at the hospital in crisis, she said.

Foster’s experience aligns with a well-known and ...Read more

Kaspars Grinvalds/Dreamstime/TNS

Mayo Clinic Q&A: Can holiday stress trigger a heart attack?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've heard that all the stress of the holidays can lead to a heart attack. What's the link, and what can I do to reduce my risk?

ANSWER: It's easy to get caught up in the stress and chaos that accompany the holiday season. For some women, their busy lives become even more hectic, and the result can be overwhelming. Also, women...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Trump's idea for health accounts has been tried. Millions of patients have ended up in debt

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Sarah Monroe once had a relatively comfortable middle-class life.

She and her family lived in a neatly landscaped neighborhood near Cleveland. They had a six-figure income and health insurance. Then, four years ago, when Monroe was pregnant with twin girls, something started to feel off.

“I kept having to come into the emergency room for ...Read more

Courtesy Mallory Rogers/KFF Health News/TNS

Out-of-pocket pain from high-deductible plans means skimping on care

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

David Garza sometimes feels as if he doesn’t have health insurance now that he pays so much to treat his Type 2 diabetes.

His monthly premium payment of $435 for family coverage is roughly the same as the insurance at his previous job. But the policy at his current job carries an annual deductible of $4,000, which he must pay out-of-pocket ...Read more

Win McNamee/Getty Images North America/TNS

Editorial: The GOP's Obamacare price spike -- Heath care costs are going up, just as the Democrats feared

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

At long last, surprising no one, Senate Republicans have blocked bills to extend Obamacare subsidies, sidestepping one more chance to address the issue careening towards a Dec. 31 cliff after which premiums for more than 20 million Americans will skyrocket.

So the Democrats were right and this was the point of the longest-ever government ...Read more

Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America/TNS

Editorial: Nothing is free -- Bill to extend 'temporary' subsidies fails

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Senate Republicans on Thursday rejected efforts to create another long-term entitlement when the nation is $37 trillion in debt and counting. It was a wise move.

Democrats recently shut down the government for six weeks to pressure the GOP to extend “temporary” Obamacare subsidies passed to soften the blow of the pandemic.

Democrats ...Read more

Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee/TNS

Republicans offer their own health care plan. Will it help California consumers?

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

House Republican leaders plan votes this week on their plan to reduce health care costs, but consumers shouldn’t expect much help with soaring premiums anytime soon.

The 111-page GOP blueprint, likely to get a House vote Wednesday, does not include an extension of the expiring health care premium subsidies.

Those credits for qualified ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Highly infectious 'stomach flu' spreads. How to disinfect after norovirus

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Norovirus, also known as the “stomach flu” or “winter vomiting sickness,” is active in California and across the nation. But cleaning and disinfecting can help check its spread, experts say.

Precautions are crucial because the virus is highly infectious and there’s no real treatment for it, the Centers for Disease Control and ...Read more

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images of North America/TNS

House GOP unveils draft health bill package

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

​WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders released draft legislation Friday consisting of a package of health proposals aimed at reducing health care costs in 2026, setting up a possible floor vote this week.

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to consider the bill for floor action.

The 111-page bill combines a ...Read more

Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Tanning bed users have nearly twice as much damage to skin cells, Northwestern study finds

Health Advice / Health & Fitness /

Though tanning may be far from people's minds this winter, a new study out of Northwestern Medicine is highlighting the risks of tanning beds, and showing how they can lead to skin cancer.

Not only is the use of tanning beds associated with nearly triple the risk of developing melanoma, but heavy users of tanning beds also had more damage to ...Read more