NEWS / PUBLIC HEALTH

Removing a Splinter? Treating a Wart? If a Doctor Does It, It Can Be Billed as Surgery

Minor interventions have been rebranded and billed as surgery, for profit. These tiny interventions add up to tens of millions of dollars. >

Disappearing Pharmacies

Have you lost a local drug store? About a third have closed. Some counties have lost every store. Here's what you can do to support them. >

The Good a Little More Quiet Can Do

When the hum of traffic breaks the silence of early morning, many of the benefits of nature and less noise go out the window. >

Pandemic Drinking without the Pandemic

Social life has largely returned to normal after the quarantines during COVID. But the pandemic-era rise in drinking has persisted. >

Bright Days, Dark Nights Build Longevity

Your body's clock does best with natural input. People exposed to little daylight and too much artificial light at night live fewer years. >

Guns and Playdates

Most parents don’t think to ask about guns in the homes their kids visit and may be uneasy about doing so. Here are ways to handle it. >

How Safe Is Your Community's Water?

Even modest levels of arsenic increase your risk of heart disease. Community water supplies are the key route by which we are exposed. >

Is That Blood Pressure Reading Accurate?

If your BP is taken with your arm in the wrong position, it is going to read higher than it actually is. Unnecessary treatment may follow. >

Think Vaping is Safer? Think again.

Vaping nicotine does as much harm to the heart and cardiovascular system as smoking traditional cigarettes -- just in a different way. >

The Medicare Advantage Influence Machine

Medicare Advantage executives are blocking efforts to rein in documented overcharging. In some cases they are former Medicare employees. >

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