SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For weeks, Mehmet Oz has been waging a public feud with California leaders over health care fraud, accusing the blue state of failing to adequately combat such abuse.

Oz, who heads the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, alleged that there was approximately $3.5 billion of fraud in the hospice and home health ...Read more

Most people who get their health coverage through the Affordable Care Act say they face sharply higher costs, with many worried they will have to pare back other expenses to cover them, according to a poll released Thursday. Some are uncertain whether they will be able to continue paying their premiums all year.

Still, 69% of those enrolled ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Tuberculosis, the bacteria often associated with the deaths of Victorian-era monarchs, was recently contracted by more than 200 high school students in San Francisco. The outbreak served as a reminder of the historical foothold it has in the Bay Area.

Alameda, Santa Clara, San Francisco and San Mateo counties each rank among...Read more

Sheldon Ekirch is used to being disappointed by her health insurance company.

That’s why Ekirch, 31, of Henrico, Virginia, was stunned when she learned Anthem would finally have to pay for life-changing medical treatment.

For two years, she had battled the company to cover blood plasma infusions called intravenous immunoglobulin, or IVIG. ...Read more

When Mike McKee thinks about saving money for the future, he has a few priorities. Maxing out his retirement is one. Building up his kid’s college fund is another.

Opening up a health savings account? Not so much, even though he qualifies because of his high-deductible health plan.

“I’m so frustrated with the system that has anything to ...Read more

CHICAGO — The respiratory illness RSV is still going strong in Chicago — an unusually late showing for the virus, which can strike infants especially hard.

RSV activity has moved from moderate to high in Chicago, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. Though it’s typical for RSV to spread more widely in the winter — ...Read more

BALTIMORE — In her surgical care for women with reproductive cancers, Dr. MaryAnn Wilbur said she faced repeated demands from both insurance companies and the hospitals she worked for to compromise on providing the best care for her patients.

“You start to see there are perverse incentives in both directions to withhold care — to perform ...Read more

Recently, a patient came to the hospital where I work with a persistent cough. Their doctor had ordered a CT scan – a type of imaging that creates detailed cross-sectional pictures of the body’s interior – to look for pneumonia or another infection.

The scan ruled that out, but it also showed something unexpected: calcium ...Read more

Imagine your dream is to get a job at the local library. You have a love for people and for books. You also have schizophrenia, a psychiatric disability that makes life in the community more challenging.

You often have extreme psychological experiences. When you leave your apartment, you hear voices that tell you it’s not safe, and ...Read more

Anyone who’s ever been anxious or stressed out and developed diarrhea, stomach pain, or nausea is instinctively aware of the connection between the brain and the gut. But, while that connection was suggested as early as the 1800s and has its roots in ancient medicine, it has only recently been dubbed the “gut-brain axis” and has been ...Read more

Flavored yogurt contains added sugars and artificial ingredients that can make it unhealthy. You can choose options with fewer additives to get more nutritional benefits.

Why do some flavored yogurts have hidden sugars?

Sometimes what makes yogurt tasty — added sugars, artificial flavors — can also make it less healthy.

When picking out a...Read more

People with atrial fibrillation (afib) are often advised to limit or avoid coffee, based on the assumption that caffeine may trigger an episode of afib. But a new study found that a daily cup of coffee had the opposite effect — a lower risk of afib recurrence.

The study included 200 people with persistent afib who drank coffee regularly. ...Read more

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: My back’s been bothering me, and everyone seems to have ideas what’s causing the pain. Can you help?

ANSWER: Back pain is more common than homeownership in the U.S. While about 65% of adults own a home, nearly 80% of adults will have back pain at some point. Despite how common this type of pain is, myths about it persist.�...Read more

Drug executives say only their GLP-1 drugs are safe for treating obesity and diabetes as they wage a yearlong campaign to stop independent labs from producing cheaper versions.

Former Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Jorgensen testified before Congress last year that these independently compounded GLP-1 drugs have sickened 100 patients and killed 10. He ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Prosecuting attorneys from across California, including from Sacramento County, cheered a state Senate committee’s passage of a bill Tuesday they say will prevent the release of violent criminals through the state’s mental health court diversion program.

The bill, carried by Assembly member Stephanie Nguyen, D-Elk ...Read more

A large health system in Northern California plans to acquire Allina Health, one of the state’s largest operators of hospitals and clinics.

The deal announced Tuesday, March 17, with Sacramento-based nonprofit Sutter Health would create health systems with a combined 39 hospital campuses and hundreds of outpatient care locations across ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — An architect of Gov. Tim Walz’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic will return to public service and advise the governor on the future stability of Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems.

Jan Malcolm has agreed to join Walz’s Cabinet as a senior adviser on hospitals and health systems, three years after she retired as ...Read more

A Denver food and cannabis investigator became suspicious of PolkaDot-branded chocolate bars sitting next to convenience store energy shots and nicotine pouches in January 2026.

Months earlier, California public health officials warned about PolkaDot-branded chocolate bars. California authorities destroyed more than US$3 million of ...Read more

Scientists are making rapid progress toward a long-awaited goal that could help to reshape cancer care: mRNA cancer vaccines with the potential to significantly boost the immune system’s ability to fight and eliminate tumors.

Since the early 2000s, there have been over 120 promising clinical trials testing the use of mRNA vaccines ...Read more

It’s open enrollment season for Medicare Advantage, when people currently enrolled in private managed-care plans can either sign up for a new one or switch to original Medicare through March 31.

But there’s a catch: If people want to move to original Medicare and buy a supplemental Medigap insurance plan to cover some out-of-pocket costs, ...Read more