Teen screen time has become one of the most studied topics in adolescent health — and for good reason. In our first post, we covered three areas that screen time affects: physical health, mental health, and social development. This post takes a closer look at the mental health evidence — the research findings and the… Read More »
Screen time is now a central part of adolescent life, and it is nearly unavoidable. Adolescents complete schoolwork online, watch video clips and television, play video games, engage in social media—all on devices. This begins a three-part series on screen time and adolescence. We review evidence and explore what we might do about it. In… Read More »
A consistent pattern in medical training is hard to ignore: many students enter wanting to work in primary care with underserved groups, yet later choose to pursue specialty careers. I’d like to think these intentions are sincere, but something during training redirects them. That pattern isn’t about greed or moral failure–it’s a signal that we… Read More »
When the world hands you lemons, you learn to make lemonade. In public health, locally sourced is even better. With federal public health guidance in disarray, it can be easy to forget that most public health is, and always has been, local. It is not the federal government that sanitizes water, inspects restaurants, or diagnoses… Read More »
With the repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding–the conclusion that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane pose a threat to public health and welfare–the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) embraces climate denial as official policy. It is a particular blow to cancer care. This decision will increase fossil fuel use and the cancer-causing environmental conditions… Read More »
Healthcare policy is back on voters’ minds. The Republican party has placed its bet on consumer-driven healthcare, framed as “delivering dollars to the American people”, as a winning strategy. While the idea is not new, there is a lot the public needs to learn about it. Decades of research in health economics has a lot… Read More »
AI tools have become ever more available to the general public in the last few years. Before ChatGPT, there were standalone tools like Grammarly and the AI-adjacent Editor in Microsoft Word. Now, though, tools from many of the big technology companies have become available (freely or at low cost) to the public. Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s… Read More »
Julie M. Zito, PhD, a longtime member of the APHA Medical Care Section, a former chair of the Medical Care Section, and stalwart advocate for pharmacy policy, passed away on December 6, 2025. She was a good friend who always “liked” my Facebook posts on progressive issues. Along with Kathy Virgo, she guaranteed the quality… Read More »
Faced with a federal government that is increasingly authoritarian, repressive, and hostile to public health, we must harness our radical imagination to re-envision our field. Many adults come to view dreaming as juvenile, trivial, escapist, or unproductive. But imagination is the lifeblood of creativity and a tool for seeing beyond our current problems. Our ability… Read More »
Over the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been battered by political interference that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Scientists and staff endured mass firings followed by partial rehiring, leaving employees describing themselves as “dead men walking”. In August, 180 shots were fired at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters,… Read More »
As we enter 2026, U.S. vaccine policy is undergoing one of its most dramatic transformations in decades, with profound implications for public health, trust in science, and the well-being of children and communities. These changes come on the heels of our declaration of Health in All Policies as The Medical Care Blog’s theme for 2026,… Read More »
In our 2025 wrap-up, we recapped last year’s theme of political determinants of health. In this post, we apply that lens to sexual and reproductive health — part of this year’s focus on Health in All Policies. No doubt about it: politics and policy matter to our health As we’ve written here many times before,… Read More »
A new year brings a clear choice. In 2026, The Medical Care Blog will focus more directly on how policy decisions shape health. Not just health policy in isolation, but policies across and intersecting between housing, labor, education, transportation, climate, and criminal legal systems. This approach is often called Health in All Policies. The idea… Read More »
Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to our 2025 wrap-up! In the US, 2025 has been a very challenging year for many in clinical and public health practice and research. With funding cuts, layoffs, and reductions-in-force, many of our readers (and yours truly) had to face the fact that our livelihoods were no longer secure. It… Read More »
(Editor’s note: This post was co-authored by the following leaders: Greg Merritt, Ava Zebrick, Bill Stephen, Cheslie Johnson, Crispin Goytia, Jeffrey Ordway, Kristie Hill, Melissa Bronson, Nadine Zemon, Neely Williams, Shirley Stowe, and Tiffany Jones.) Over the past year, as Patient Partner leaders for PCORnet®, we have been developing a manuscript chronicling the PCORnet journey… Read More »
For years, analysts warned that the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies, which were temporarily extended during the COVID-19 pandemic, masked the true cost trajectory of the individual market. This fall, that warning has become reality. The 2026 open enrollment window (Nov 1 – Jan 15, with a deadline of December 15 for coverage… Read More »
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplace Open Enrollment season starts November 1, 2025 in most states. The premiums insurers charge are increasing. And, with enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, out-of-pocket premiums are expected to increase drastically. Additionally, changes to Marketplace enrollment and eligibility rules in this year’s… Read More »
WASHINGTON — Nationwide, states are racing to win their share of a new $50 billion rural health fund. But helping rural hospitals, as originally envisioned, is quickly becoming a quaint idea. Rather, states should submit applications that “rebuild and reshape” how health care is delivered in rural communities, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official Abe Sutton… Read More »
What just happened, and why people are talking about it In late September 2025, FDA announced it would start a process to add language to acetaminophen labels noting a possible association with autism and ADHD when used during pregnancy, and it sent a notice to physicians [pdf] summarizing the concern. The move followed statements from… Read More »
This article was first published on KFF Health News. It also ran on CNN. It is republished here for free. While plowing a wheat field in rural Washington state in the 1990s, William Wallace spotted a gray plane overhead that he believed was releasing chemicals to make him sick. The rancher began to suspect that all white… Read More »
Interoperability in healthcare is achieved when all providers are connected and able to securely share patient information. While hospitals and physician practices continue to make progress—supported by federal incentives to implement electronic health record (EHR) systems—long-term and post-acute care (LTPAC) providers often remain at the margins. LTPAC Providers Include: Skilled nursing facilities (SNF) Nursing homes… Read More »
Chronic diseases—hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease—are leading causes of death globally. In the United States, their burden is especially severe in African American communities. One often overlooked barrier in managing these conditions is medical trust. Without trust in healthcare, access, prevention, treatment, and long-term care are far less effective. Why Trust Matters in Healthcare Trust… Read More »
Given the impending evisceration of Medicaid, potential cuts to Medicare, and reductions in medical foreign aid, many ill individuals will face decreased access to supplies, equipment, and staff, necessitating difficult decisions about who receives care and how much treatment they will receive. Those making these decisions will have the uncomfortable choice of refusing treatments. This… Read More »
In the midst of all of the health disparities in the United States, one seems to always fly under the radar. A stigma already exists surrounding periods, but talking about period poverty only heightens this response. Period poverty is a common issue, both worldwide and in the United States, but is so often overlooked. If… Read More »
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed rule for the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. And big changes may be coming–including some potential for payments to primary care to increase, and for payments to other specialties to decrease. Though the changes are controversial, they might be just what primary care needs.… Read More »
If you have been following the debate about Medicaid cuts, you know it’s a giant program, America’s largest in terms of the number of people it covers. But you may be confused about how many people Medicaid actually covers. Is it 71 million Americans, the number most commonly used in The New York Times and… Read More »
The Medicaid cuts are dire in the Big Beautiful Bill. Some of the forthcoming changes and cuts are still a couple of years away, but now is the time to prepare. We should remember how important Medicaid is and why, and continue to talk widely about its value and its challenges. We should also understand… Read More »
NOTE: The deadline has now been extended to August 17th, 2025. It is a time of tremendous unrest in public health. Your stories from the front lines of public health are critical to telling the story of the challenges facing public health today. The Medical Care Blog is committed to elevating your voices on these… Read More »
For much of modern medicine, clinical decisions leaned on tradition, authority, and experience. Physicians often followed longstanding practices because “that’s how it’s always been done.” But in recent decades, a quiet revolution changed everything: the rise of evidence-based medicine (EBM). EBM has reshaped clinical care. Now, it’s time for that same rigor to permeate public… Read More »
It is official, the cause of COVID-19 was clearly and definitively a lab leak! How do we know? Well, the White House created an official website declaring as much. Topped with an obsequious image of President Trump emerging from pitch darkness (presumably to reveal the truth?), the site looks like something created by the satirical… Read More »
Last month, the American Public Health Association (APHA) released a statement by Executive Director Georges C. Benjamin, MD describing the ways in which Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a “danger to the public’s health” and calling for his resignation. I had missed this. I found it when searching for whether APHA had taken an updated… Read More »
The recent budget resolution passed by the House of Representatives proposes significant spending cuts, including approximately $880 billion from programs under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which encompasses Medicaid. This proposal has raised concerns about potential reductions in Medicaid funding, a program that currently provides health coverage to over 72… Read More »
President Donald Trump’s return to the White House sent a clear signal about Medicaid to Republicans across the country: Requiring enrollees to prove they are working, volunteering, or going to school is back on the table. The day after Trump’s inauguration, South Carolina GOP Gov. Henry McMaster asked federal officials to approve a work requirement… Read More »
Last Sunday, standing at the mic with a grammy in hand for best new artist, Chappell Roan finally got the U.S. talking about the uninsured again. Reading from her notebook, she used the moment to call for adequate wages and health care for aspiring artists. She explained, “If my label would have prioritized artists’ health,… Read More »
While training to be a psychometrician I was blessed/cursed more than 50 years ago with a favorable response to a research proposal to improve tools that researchers increasingly used for surveying health outcomes but were rarely evaluated psychometrically. Knowing little about health, I found very useful the WHO’s 1948 definition of it as “a state… Read More »
A lot has been said about the Project 2025 initiative including some discussion of its implications for public health in the United States. Representing a significant collaboration of more than 100 conservative organizations in the United States, Project 2025 certainly carries weight even if its specific role in the new administration remains uncertain. But what… Read More »
I ask my patients to do a lot of things: reduce stress, move more, and eat healthier. I also encourage them to use phones, cigarettes and other addictive substances less. One thing I don’t often ask them to do is play more, and I think I am missing something important. And maybe I am missing… Read More »
Happy New Year to our readers, and thank you for joining us as we welcome in 2025. Two weeks ago, we took time to review and celebrate our first-ever blog theme: Climate Change and Public Health. We learned a lot during our first year with a theme, and we will take those lessons into 2025.… Read More »
It’s been a rocky year for public health and climate change. We began 2024 with the news that 2023 had been, by far, the hottest year on record. The average temperature had increased so much from the prior year, that one scientist described it as not just breaking records, but a leap-frogging of them. At… Read More »
Hi, My name is Dr. Ben King and I’m the new Chair of the Medical Care section of the American Public Health Association (APHA). I am beyond excited about what the next couple of years have in store for us as a professional organization. I also recognize that we are entering a time of immense… Read More »
Paxlovid is startlingly expensive. As with many drugs in the United States, its pricing deserves renewed scrutiny. Among a handful of approved anti-retrovirals, the drug is the go-to prescription medicine to treat mild-to-moderate COVID-19 in adults. It can reduce the likelihood of ending up in the hospital for people at elevated risk. For older people… Read More »
Veterans Day is a day to recognize and honor those who served in the Armed Forces. Retired Sergeant First Class Allen Barton spends each Veterans Day thinking about his time in service and remembering those he served with. Allen was enlisted in the U.S. Army on active duty and in the Army Reserve for 23… Read More »
*This post was originally published on KFF Health News on November 8, 2025. It is published with open permission by that site. A new federal watchdog audit is ratcheting up pressure on government officials to crack down on billions of dollars in overcharges linked to Medicare Advantage home visits. But so far, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid… Read More »
Racial residential segregation in the US is persistent and associated with racial health inequities. This month’s special guest is Dr. Kristen Brown, a senior research associate at Urban Institute. We discuss her recent publication Still Separate, Still Not Equal: An ecological examination of redlining and racial segregation with COVID-19 vaccination administration in Washington DC. We… Read More »
Note: The 2024 election wraps-up in short order. KFF once again published a thoughtful analysis of competing positions on health care–in this case the Affordable Care Act. And we are republishing that here. Enjoy. -The Editors Health care is suddenly front and center in the final sprint to the presidential election, and the outcome will… Read More »
Note: It’s election season. And time to take a look at the health policy positions of the presidential candidates. KFF published this thorough and well-sourced analysis of the candidates’ competing positions on everything from health care and abortion to public health and gun violence. Enjoy. -The Editors The general election campaign is underway, spotlighting former… Read More »
It’s September! That means it’s our blogiversary =) This month marks the 10-year anniversary (blogiversary) of The Medical Care Blog, where we focus on the intersection of public health and medical care. To celebrate this milestone, we are dedicating this month’s podcast to a blog-focused episode featuring special guests Greg Stevens and Ben King, co-editors… Read More »
This post was originally published on KFF Health News. It is published with open permission by that site. Measles is on the rise in the United States. In the first quarter of this year, the number of cases was about 17 times what it was, on average, during the same period in each of the four… Read More »
This post was originally published on KFF Health News. It is published with open permission by that site. When Vice President Kamala Harris walked across the debate stage Tuesday night to shake the hand of former President Donald Trump, it was the first time the two had met in person. But that was the rare… Read More »
Caring about the environment can feel like an uphill battle, where our individual efforts can seem small against the colossal issue of climate change. But working together–being just a little less of an individual in this battle–can feel uplifting and make a more significant difference. Environmental activist and author, Bill McKibben, joined Cal State LA’s… Read More »