Health Headlines
Some Americans fear high premiums if ACA enhanced subsidies expire: ‘It’s very much a worry’
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks at a press conference with other House Republicans on the 15th day of the government shutdown in Washington, DC on October 15, 2025. Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- As the federal government shutdown enters its third week, some Americans are worried about the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.The subsidies, or premium tax credits, help lower or eliminate the out-of-pocket cost of monthly premiums for those who purchase insurance through the health insurance marketplace.They were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic and are currently set to expire at the end of 2025.Democrats have been demanding that Republicans pass extensions of the subsidies before the government is reopened, while the GOP says ... Read More
California officials investigate possible local spread of mpox after 3 cases with no travel history reported
NIH-NIAID/Image Point FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Health officials in Los Angeles County said on Friday they are investigating a possible local spread of a more severe strain of mpox.Two cases of the strain were identified among Los Angeles County residents with no recent travel history.It comes after the first U.S. case of the more severe strain of mpox without known travel was identified in a patient from Long Beach, California, bringing the total number of cases in the state to three.No clear link has been identified between the Los Angeles cases and the Long Beach case, according to Los Angeles County health officials."The confirmation of a third case with no travel history raises concerns about possible ... Read More
New York confirms 1st locally acquired case of chikungunya virus in 6 years in US
VCG/VCG via Getty Images(NASSUA COUNTY, N.Y.) -- The New York State Department of Health has confirmed a case of locally acquired chikungunya on Long Island, marking the first case of the virus reported to be locally acquired in New York and the first locally acquired case to be reported in the United States since 2019.Laboratory testing at the department’s Wadsworth Center confirmed the case in Nassau County on Long Island, according to health officials.“An investigation suggests that the individual likely contracted the virus following a bite from an infected mosquito,” officials said. “While the case is classified as locally acquired based on current information, the precise source of exposure is not known.”Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease most common in tropical ... Read More
How Affordable Care Act subsidies became a sticking point in the government shutdown
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As the federal government shutdown enters its tenth day, one major health care issue has continued to be a sticking point: insurance subsidies.The Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, or premium tax credits, help lower or eliminate the out-of-pocket cost of monthly premiums for those who purchase insurance through the health insurance marketplace.Eligibility for the subsidies can include factors such as household income and geographic location.The subsidies were part of the original Affordable Care Act passed during the Obama administration and were enhanced during the COVID-19 pandemic to increase the amount of financial assistance to those who were already eligible and to expand eligibility to more people. They are set to expire at ... Read More
HHS hits back at former surgeons general who wrote op-ed saying RFK Jr. is endangering nation’s health
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. appears before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC. The committee met to hear testimony on President Trump's 2026 health care agenda. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hit back at an op-ed written by the most recent six surgeons general, who said they wanted to warn the U.S. about the dangers of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.The op-ed, published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, called the health secretary’s policies and positions an "immediate and unprecedented" threat to the nation’s health.In a statement to ABC News, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the doctors are the ... Read More
A hard-to-spot breast cancer now makes up more than 1 in 10 cases in the US: Report
Stock image of stethoscope. ATU Images/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A fast-rising form of breast cancer that's harder to detect on mammograms now makes up more than one in ten cases in the United States, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society (ACS). Invasive lobular carcinoma, the second most common breast cancer type, is increasing about 3% each year, more than triple the rate of other breast cancers, the report, published on Tuesday morning, found.About 80% of breast cancers are the invasive ductal type, which occurs when cancer cells grow in the milk ducts and invade the surrounding breast tissue.However, incidence of invasive lobular carcinoma, a cancer than develops in the milk-producing glands of the breast -- once rare ... Read More
CDC drops universal COVID vaccine recommendations, suggests separate MMRV shots
Detail of vials and syringe containing a COVID-19 vaccination by Pfizer at Kaiser Permanente Venice Medical Office Building in Culver City Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)(NEW YORK) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its immunization schedule on Monday, dropping the universal COVID-19 vaccine recommendation and recommending that toddlers receive the chickenpox shot separately from the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot.Acting Director and Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O'Neill signed off on the recommendations, which were made by the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) last month."Informed consent is back," O'Neill said in a statement. "CDC's 2022 blanket recommendation for perpetual COVID-19 boosters deterred ... Read More
What Hegseth’s military fitness rules may mean for women servicemembers
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- During a speech earlier this week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the implementation of new fitness standards for the military.In addition to the newly proposed annual fitness exam, Hegseth's speech emphasized "gender-neutral" testing with men and women required to meet the same minimum physical performance benchmarks.Speaking to hundreds of high-ranking military officials in Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth said it was important that certain combat positions return "to the highest male standard," acknowledging that it may lead to fewer women serving in combat roles.The current training is not different for male and female servicemembers."If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is," he said on Tuesday. "If that means no women qualify ... Read More
Breast cancer by the numbers: How survival rates have improved over the past 40 years
Getty/Svittlana Kuchina(NEW YORK) -- Since the first Breast Cancer Awareness Month initiatives kicked off 40 years ago, major improvements have been made in treating the disease.While the rates of women diagnosed with breast cancer have increased, death rates have been declining, and five-year survival rates have risen.Additionally, most breast cancer cases are being diagnosed in early stages before the disease has spread, making it easier to treat."It’s so exciting to be someone treating breast cancer because we can see that our treatments and improvements in treatments are actually making women live longer on average," Dr. Julia McGuinness, an assistant professor of medicine within the division of hematology/oncology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, told ABC News.Here's a look at the progress made ... Read More
40 years of breast cancer awareness has saved over half million lives and counting
Isaac Lane Koval/Corbis/VCG/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Since the start of Breast Cancer Awareness initiatives in 1985, over 517,000 lives have been saved from better treatment and proactive screening, according to the American Cancer Society."Today is a day to celebrate forty years of incredible progress in ending cancer as we know it, for everyone," Dr. Shanti Sivendran, senior vice president of cancer care support at the American Cancer Society and medical oncologist at Penn Medicine, told ABC News.In the 1980s in the United States, only one in four women were getting screened for breast cancer, and access to screening technology was limited, Sivendran said.That began to change in October 1985, when the American Cancer Society partnered with other groups to launch ... Read More
Breast cancer resources: What you need to know about diagnosis, treatments, support
The Good Brigade/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Oct.1 marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the American Cancer Society (ACS) is commemorating 40 years of spreading awareness about the condition.Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, with one in eight developing breast cancer in her lifetime, according to the ACS.However, the group also says that early detection can significantly improve treatment outcomes.ABC News has compiled resources to help you learn more about breast cancer diagnosis, treatments and support.Breast cancer statisticsBreast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the U.S., behind skin cancer, accounting for one in three of all new female cancers every year, according to the ACS.Between 2018 and 2022, more than ... Read More
‘I’m giving my opinion’: Trump deviates from scientific evidence, own FDA, in autism remarks
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- As President Donald Trump rambled and ad-libbed through an announcement meant to caution pregnant women about the possible links between the use of Tylenol and autism in children, his comments went beyond the available scientific evidence, and even the language of his own health department.He made clear he was aware he was, at times, speaking for himself."You know, I'm just making these statements from me," he said at one point. "I'm not making them from these doctors, because when they talk about different results, different studies, I talk a lot about common sense."Trump's remarks deviated from the more measured guidance offered by his health agencies in subsequent news releases and op-eds."Don't take Tylenol," he boomed multiple ... Read More
CDC hepatitis B vaccine vote delayed: What parents should know about possible changes
The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is seen during a meeting on September 19, 2025 in Chamblee, Georgia. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee on Friday indefinitely postponed its planned vote on whether to stop recommending the hepatitis B vaccine for newborns.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, called ACIP, is expected to vote on the COVID-19 vaccine is still expected later Friday. It's not clear exactly what the advisors will vote on, but the discussion may include the FDA's recent narrowing of COVID-19 vaccine approvals to a smaller group of Americans -- those over 65 or with underlying medical conditions.On Thursday, the group voted to narrow existing recommendations for the combined MMRV shot that protects ... Read More
West Coast states issue joint vaccine guidelines in shift away from CDC
Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Four Western U.S. states have come together to issue unified vaccine recommendations for the upcoming respiratory illness season, and California has enacted a new law to base the state's immunization guidance on independent medical organizations, rather than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The West Coast states including California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii -- all led by Democratic governors -- banded together earlier this month to create the West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA), citing what they called an erosion of trust in the CDC."The alliance represents a unified regional response to the Trump Administration’s destruction of the U.S. CDC’s credibility and scientific integrity," stated a press release Wednesday from California ... Read More
Why doctors say the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine is still necessary
ER Productions Limited/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Ahead of a key meeting amongst the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine advisors -- now with 12 members hand-picked by health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. -- doctors, health officials and advocates are raising alarms that the panel could reverse a decadeslong guideline of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B at birth.On camera on Wednesday, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor specialized in treating liver diseases and chair of the Senate committee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said the American people should not have confidence in the advisory panel's decision if they recommend against the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices ... Read More
CDC finds 4% drop in US death rate in 2024. Experts say decline may be due to COVID
Sorrasak Jar Tinyo/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The United States death rate decreased by 3.8% in 2024 as COVID fell out of the top 10 leading causes of death for the first time in four years, new provisional federal data shows.The overall rate declined from 750.5 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 722 per 100,000, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).This marks the lowest death rate recorded since 2020, during the first full year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and follows declines that began in 2022.The report also found that overall deaths fell from 3.09 million in 2023 to 3.07 million in 2024.Additionally, the report showed the three leading causes ... Read More
Florida pediatrician warns vaccine mandate removal could harm vulnerable residents
Dr. Lisa Gwynn says Florida's vaccine decision will create 'perfect storm' for diseases. ABC News.(FLORIDA) -- A top Florida pediatrician warned Thursday that the state's plan to eliminate all vaccine mandates could lead to outbreaks of preventable diseases and put vulnerable populations at risk.Dr. Lisa Gwynn, a former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Florida chapter, told ABC News that removing vaccine requirements for public school children could endanger not just students, but also "newborn infants, elderly populations, and people with compromised immune systems, including those undergoing chemotherapy."The warning came a day after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the state would become the first in the nation to remove all vaccine mandates, including those for common childhood diseases like polio, ... Read More
Using your phone on the toilet raises your risk of hemorrhoids, study suggests
Antonio Hugo Photo/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- People who use their smartphones while sitting on the toilet face are at higher risk for painful, itchy hemorrhoids, according to new research published in the journal PLOS One.Researchers investigated the bathroom habits of 125 adults undergoing screening colonoscopies at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. About two-thirds of participants reported scrolling through their smartphones while sitting on the toilet.Those who were glued to their phone while using the bathroom were 46% more likely to have hemorrhoids compared to those who left their device in another room."The likely explanation is that prolonged sitting increases pressure in the veins around the rectum, which can contribute to hemorrhoids," Dr. Ernesto Gonzaga, a gastroenterologist from ... Read More
Florida surgeon general says state is moving to ‘end all vaccine mandates’
Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) -- Florida is moving to "end all vaccine mandates" in the state, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a press conference on Wednesday.Ladapo said the Florida Department of Health would be working with Gov. Ron DeSantis' office to end all mandates in state law, at the event at Grace Christian School in Valrico, located just east of Tampa."Every last one of them is wrong and drips with disdain and slavery," Ladapo said of vaccine mandates.Currently, Florida requires children between kindergarten and 12th grade to receive four or five doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccine; four or five doses of the polio vaccine; two doses of the measles, ... Read More
More than 1,000 current, former HHS employees sign letter calling on RFK Jr. to resign
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a cabinet meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room of the White House on August 26, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- More than 1,000 current and former employees across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) signed a letter on Wednesday morning calling for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s resignation.Addressed to Kennedy and members of Congress, the signatories accused the secretary of endangering the health of Americans. Save HHS, the group behind the letter, told ABC News it's been sent to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions; Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Energy and ... Read More
Former CDC directors say RFK Jr. is endangering Americans’ health
sshepard/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Dr. Richard Besser explains why he and other former directors of the CDC wrote an op-ed criticizing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s handling of the CDC and public health.Nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are speaking out, saying Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is endangering the health of Americans.Seven former directors and two former acting directors -- whose tenures stretch back to the administration of former President Jimmy Carter -- published an op-ed in The New York Times on Monday, just days after the ousting of the CDC's new director Dr. Susan Monarez.Sources told ABC News that Kennedy and Stefanie Spear, his principal deputy chief ... Read More
Doctors may need to rethink decades of routine beta blocker use for some patients after a heart attack, studies suggest
ATU Images/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- A large new study conducted in Spain and Italy found that beta blockers, drugs often used to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure, did not provide clear benefits for heart attack patients whose hearts were still functioning well.The results of the study, known as REBOOT, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday and presented during the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2025 in Madrid, Spain.The REBOOT trial enrolled more than 8,400 patients recovering from a heart attack whose heart function was above 40% and assigned them to either take a beta blocker or no beta blocker within two weeks of leaving the hospital.Over the course of approximately 3.7 years, ... Read More
COVID cases, hospitalizations ticking up in the US but remain lower than last year
A COVID-19 At-Home Test kit showing positive results. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)(NEW YORK) -- COVID-19 cases are ticking up in the U.S. as children head back to school and the country prepares to enter the colder weather months.For the week ending Aug. 9, the COVID hospitalization rate was 1.7 per 100,000, double the rate from two months ago, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Additionally, for the week ending Aug. 23, 11.2% of weekly tests came back positive for COVID, up from 3.3% the prior two months, CDC data shows.Despite the increases, metrics remain much lower than in previous years.Hospitalization rates are about three times lower than at the same time last year and the percentage of weekly ... Read More
FDA expands warning of radioactive shrimp as 2 more brands are recalled
A sign for the Food And Drug Administration is seen outside of the headquarters on July 20, 2020 in White Oak, Maryland. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expanding its warning about radioactive shrimp, recalling more brands due to possible contamination.The federal health agency said earlier this week nearly 18,000 bags of frozen Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp and 26,460 packages of cocktail shrimp, both from Seattle-based Aquastar Corp, were recalled because of potential contamination with the radioactive isotope Cesium-137 (Cs-137).Earlier alerts had warned about contamination among Walmart's Great Value shrimp and frozen shrimp sold by California-based company Southwind Foods.The FDA said all of the brands were processed by the Indonesian supplier PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, operating as BMS ... Read More
Showdown at CDC as director refuses to leave post, amid pressure from Trump administration
Susan Monarez, nominee to be the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testifies during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, June 25, 2025 in Washington. (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)(WASHINGTON) -- Lawyers for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez said Wednesday evening that she would not leave her post as a top public health official, despite attempts by White House officials and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oust her for "protecting the public" over "a political agenda.""When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For ... Read More
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