Latest Stories By Michelle Andrews

Showing 1-6 of 6 items
Birth control pills, 8-26-2016

Once the new over-the-counter birth control pill is available, what about cost and coverage?

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved Opill, the first daily oral contraceptive that will be available for sale over the counter in stores and online. Reproductive health advocates hailed the groundbreaking approval as a step that can help millions of people avoid pregnancy, which is unintended nearly half the time in the United States. These advocates have long have […]
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Everything you need to know about Paxlovid — especially, should you take it?

When President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on July 21, his physician recommended he take the antiviral drug Paxlovid. The drug significantly reduces the likelihood of hospitalization or death for someone at high risk of developing severe COVID. Biden started the five-day course that day, according to the White House, and within six days, […]
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Democrats’ plans to expand Medicare benefits put pinch on Advantage plans’ funding

“Did you think we wouldn’t notice?” an older woman says, speaking into the camera. “You thought you could sneak this through?” an older man later adds. Others warn that Washington is “messing with” their Medicare Advantage health coverage and trying to raise their premiums. But the television ad, paid for by Better Medicare Alliance, a […]
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Kids at school COVID-19 masks fist bumping

Reading, ’rithmetic and resisting COVID-19: The new 3 R’s as kids head back to school

When kids head back to school this fall, for some it will be the first time they’ve been in a real classroom with other students since the pandemic began. Even if they attended classes in person last year, the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 will require a new safety calculation, particularly […]
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Cuomo Queens vaccination site

Sorting out how politics, policies swirl around N.Y.’s nursing home Covid-19 mortality rates

The plaudits have faded for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Once hailed as a paragon of pandemic governing, he’s since come under scorching criticism for undercounting the state’s Covid deaths among nursing home residents by as much as half. The tallying flap drew attention to another misstep: a policy last March that directed nursing homes […]
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Social media fears about lack of coverage for protest injuries are overblown

Thousands of protesters thronged the streets in recent days to express their anger over the killing of an African American man, George Floyd, in police custody in Minneapolis. The mostly peaceful rallies have turned violent at times, with police using batons, tear gas and rubber bullets that caused serious injuries. That led to online social media postings […]
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Showing 1-6 of 6 items