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Shots - Health News

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Health advocates and community members gathered in Washington D.C. in mid September to push the Biden administration to take additional action on medical debt in an event hosted by nonprofit Community Catalyst. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Community Catalyst hide caption

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Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Community Catalyst

Medical debt could soon be barred from ruining your credit score

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Ozempic, approved by the Food and Drug Administration for Type 2 diabetes, is racking up blockbuster sales because many people are taking it to lose weight. As more people try it, reports to the FDA about possible side effects are rising. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

As Ozempic use grows, so do reports of possible mental health side effects

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Anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside Planned Parenthood's Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee on Monday, Sept. 2023. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin began offering abortions at the clinic that day after not doing so for more than a year. Margaret Faust/ WPR hide caption

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Margaret Faust/ WPR

The California company iHealth is one of 12 U.S. manufacturers getting an investment from the federal government to provide free tests by mail to people ahead of the winter COVID season. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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About 12 million Americans qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid, and they face relentless red tape accessing health care. A bipartisan fix that could help them is in the works. Getty Images hide caption

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Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez says CARE Court will resemble the county's other collaborative courts, like her young adult diversion court, where compassion and science drive her decisions. April Dembosky/KQED hide caption

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April Dembosky/KQED

A study of nearly 300,000 people in the U.K. found that people who maintained at least five of seven healthy habits cut their risk of depression by 57%. Maria Stavreva/Getty Images hide caption

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Maria Stavreva/Getty Images

These habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds

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Dr. Terry Vester examines Charity Hodge at Vester's clinic in LaFayette, Alabama. Vester and her husband are the only primary care doctors in the community. Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News hide caption

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Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News

Just two doctors serve this small Alabama town. What's next when they want to retire?

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Pesky Pete Barron holds the leaves of poison ivy illustrating how it grows in clusters of three leaves. Jesse Costa/WBUR hide caption

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Jesse Costa/WBUR

Poison ivy is poised to be one of the big winners of a warming world

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Sharon Hudson (left) has advanced Alzheimer's. But she smiles and giggles when her daughter, Lana Obermeyer, visits at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Syracuse, Nebraska. Tony Leys/KFF Health News hide caption

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Tony Leys/KFF Health News

The number of overdoses that involve both fentanyl and stimulants like cocaine and meth is growing fast. One way people who use drugs can protect themselves is by using test strips to check for the presence of fentanyl in other drugs. Mark Lennihan/AP hide caption

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Mark Lennihan/AP

Fentanyl mixed with cocaine or meth is driving the '4th wave' of the overdose crisis

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Nicole Blackmon says she is mourning two children, the teenager she lost to gun violence and her stillborn baby. She is suing Tennessee because she says abortion bans interfered with her care. Splash Cinema/Center for Reproductive Rights hide caption

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Splash Cinema/Center for Reproductive Rights

Women fight abortion bans in 3 more states with legal actions

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Experts say the new COVID boosters are a much closer match to currently circulating variants than prior vaccines and boosters. Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The new COVID boosters are coming: Here's what you need to know

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New COVID-19 vaccines received the backing of a panel of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday. The shots will be available across the country later this week. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

CDC advisers back broad rollout of new COVID boosters

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The rich savory flavor of miso soup is one way to experience umami, the fifth major taste. Yuuji/Getty Images hide caption

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Yuuji/Getty Images

How umami overcame discrimination and took its place as the 5th taste

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Another round of COVID-19 vaccines is on the way. The Food and Drug Administration approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna that target an omicron subvariant called XBB.1.5. Vaccination campaigns, like this one in San Rafael, Calif., in 2022, could resume soon. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

New COVID vaccines get FDA approval

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Jason Silverman, on the exercise bike, and his friend Melissa Mills go to the gym together when they hang out. The pair are part of the Friendship Project in Framingham, Massachusetts. Priyanka Dayal McCluskey/WBUR hide caption

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Priyanka Dayal McCluskey/WBUR

Chipping away at the 'epidemic of loneliness,' one new friendship at a time

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Kayce Atencio, who had a heart attack when he was 19, was unable to rent an apartment for years because of bad credit attributed in part to thousands of dollars of medical debt. "It always felt like I just couldn't get a leg up," says Atencio, one of millions of Americans whose access to housing is threatened by medical debt. Rachel Woolf for KFF Health News hide caption

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Rachel Woolf for KFF Health News

Researchers looking for root causes of long COVID work in the autopsy suite inside the Clinical Center at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Kame Ogito, 89, gathers seaweed at low tide in Motobu, Okinawa, Japan. Seaweed is part of the plant-based, low-calorie diet that makes Okinawans some of the longest-lived people in the world. David McLain/Dan Buettner hide caption

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David McLain/Dan Buettner

7 habits to live a healthier life, inspired by the world's longest-lived communities

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Shots - Health News

Shots

Health News From NPR

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