Shots - Health News NuvaRing Contraceptive Settlement Leaves Women Weighing Risks The drug company Merck has agreed to settle with thousands of claimants who sued over the contraceptive NuvaRing. Birth control has never escaped controversy when it comes to potentially serious side effects, so how do women sort through the data and make a decision that works for them.
Digital Life Dr. Wikipedia: The 'Double-Edged Sword' Of Crowd-Sourced Medicine A report on health and social media finds that Wikipedia is the "single leading source of medical information" for patients and health care professionals. But not all the articles are accurate. To address that issue, Dr. Amin Azzam requires his fourth-year medical students to revise and publish medical articles on the site. Listen Loading Playing… 3 min 22 sec Download Playlist
Shots - Health News Stomach Bug Closes Landmark New York Resort The Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, N.Y., closed Friday afternoon so that cleaning crews from a company that specializes in disaster responses can scour the place after an outbreak of intestinal illness. Norovirus appears to be the culprit.
Shots - Health News After A Stroke, Women's Lives Are Worse Than Men's Women's reduced ability to recover physically after a stroke may have big effects on their quality of life. Researchers don't know why women don't fare as well as men after strokes, but they say it's a topic in need of attention.
Barbershop Is George Zimmerman On A Road To Perdition? Rapper DMX is talking about stepping into the boxing ring with George Zimmerman. But the Barbershop guys ask whether it would be better for both men to step out of the spotlight. Listen Loading Playing… 17 min 48 sec Download Playlist
Shots - Health News Maker Of $1,000 Hepatitis C Pill Looks To Cut Its Cost Overseas The U.S. recently approved a drug that can quickly cure hepatitis C in many patients. But its high price means the treatment is out of reach for millions of people in the developing world. Now the pill's manufacturer is talking with Indian producers to reduce the treatment cost to $2,000. But critics say the price drop won't be enough.
The Salt Food Industry Groups Say They'll Label GMOs, On Their Terms In an open acknowledgement that many consumers are annoyed that GMO ingredients aren't labeled, a coalition announced Thursday that it does support labeling. But it wants a federal standard to be voluntary, and it wants to keep states from passing any more mandatory labeling measures.
Shots - Health News Start Early To Cut Women's Stroke Risk Women face a higher risk of stroke than men. But until now there haven't been guidelines specific to women for managing the risk. New recommendations say women should start thinking about reducing their stroke risk early on, when they're thinking about getting pregnant or avoiding pregnancy.
Shots - Health News Obamacare Thrives In San Francisco's Chinatown KHN San Francisco's Chinatown has long had its own hospitals and health care system. Now, one of the hospitals there is offering health insurance plans on California's exchange specifically for the Chinese-American community. It has been very successful where other plans have not. Listen Loading Playing… 5 min 7 sec Download Playlist
Around the Nation Maryland Drug Officials Worry Over A Deadly Mixture Officials with the Drug Enforcement Agency are meeting with Maryland state police and other law enforcement officers on Thursday. They hope to find a way to head off a tainted heroin mixture that has killed nearly 40 people in the state since September. Officials say the drug is affecting users in both the suburbs and inner cities, and groups that offer services to drug abusers are moving quickly to warn users to watch out for the deadly heroin-fentanyl combination. Listen Loading Playing… 4 min 27 sec Download Playlist
Shots - Health News Most Smokers Don't Buy Their Cigarettes At CVS The CVS drugstore chain's decision to stop selling tobacco products drew praise as an important public health step. But, we wondered, how many people buy cigarettes at drugstores? Not as many as we thought.
The Salt Subway Phasing Out Bread Additive After Blogger Flags Health Concerns Just a few days after a food blogger created a buzz with an online petition raising questions about the safety of a food additive commonly used in commercial baking, sandwich giant Subway has announced plans to phase it out of its fresh-baked breads.
Shots - Health News Less Sleep, More Time Online Raise Risk For Teen Depression Lack of sleep contributes to depression in teenagers, two studies find. Lack of exercise and lots of time online don't help, either. The solution, researchers say, is for parents to make sure their children are getting a good nine to 10 hours of sleep a night, even in high school.
The Salt Oh, So That's What Goes Into A McDonald's Chicken McNugget Allegations of mystery meat have long dodged the fast-food giant's crispy chunks of chicken. Now, McDonald's Canada is taking a viral approach to dispelling the rumors with a video that reveals exactly how its McNuggets are made.
Business CVS Caremark Drops Tobacco, Wants To Be Your Health Provider RIPR Smokers are shrugging off the announcement that CVS will stop selling tobacco products. The company announced the move on Wednesday as part of a strategy to promote healthy choices. But more than half of cigarettes are sold at gas stations, so the company's decision is unlikely to have much of an impact on access to tobacco. Listen Loading Playing… 3 min 20 sec Download Playlist
Economy Reining In Health Care Costs Key To Trimming Deficit The Congressional Budget Office said this year's deficit is likely to be about a third the size it was in 2009, when the Great Recession bottomed out. A better economy is the main reason for the improving deficit, but moderating health care costs help. Listen Loading Playing… 4 min 23 sec Download Playlist
Business Drug Store Plans To Rid Its Shelves Of Tobacco Products The pharmacy giant CVS plans to eliminate cigarettes and other tobacco products from its stores by October. The company says it made the decision because the drug store business is changing and that selling cigarettes is no longer consistent with its mission. Medical experts and the White House hailed the move. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports. Listen Loading Playing… 3 min 16 sec Download Playlist
Business For CVS CEO, Tobacco Decision Reflects Health Care Priorities CVS CEO and President Larry Merlo joins Audie Cornish to discuss his company's big decision to eventually discontinue its sales of tobacco products. The decision didn't simply make headlines on Wednesday; it could also signal a shift in plans for the pharmacy giant's future. Listen Loading Playing… 4 min 29 sec Download Playlist
Politics One Day After CBO Report, It's Time To Start Your Spin Cycle On Tuesday, economists with the Congressional Budget Office announced findings that indicated the new health care law may result in hundreds of thousands leaving the workforce. The findings spurred new debate on the merits of the law and its economic impact. NPR's Scott Horsley has more on the reactions to the report. Listen Loading Playing… 3 min 25 sec Download Playlist
Health Care Obamacare Opponents Open New Front For Debate In 'Risk Corridors' Some Republicans have begun to demand the repeal of a key feature in the president's health care law, which protects insurance companies taking part, in exchange for agreeing to raise the nation's debt ceiling. But according to Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, the so-called "risk corridors" actually benefit the Treasury, rather than costing taxpayers money. Listen Loading Playing… 4 min 7 sec Download Playlist
Shots - Health News Seeing Less Helps The Brain Hear More People who are blind from birth are often better than sighted people at processing certain aspects of sound. A mouse study hints at why: Even a few days in the dark helped "rewire" the auditory center of an adult animal's brain. Listen Loading Playing… 4 min 31 sec Download Playlist