DEAR MAYO CLINIC: I've read so much about the health benefits of tracking my steps. But there's a lot of confusing information out there. How many is the right number? Are some "steps" better for you than others? Please help.

ANSWER: Whether you're tracking steps with your phone, a smartwatch or an old-school pedometer, the result is the same: ...Read more

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met last week at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It linked 25 unverified reports of child deaths to COVID-19 vaccines as they consider further limiting access to this and other immunizations, like those for hepatitis B and MMRV. But they aren’t just playing politics....Read more

John Hauser was a Chicagoland student working toward becoming a commercial pilot. He’d long wanted to be a pilot and was pursuing that dream. But Hauser had been experiencing depression and was discouraged from seeking the treatment he needed due to outdated aviation laws that would prevent him from flying.

In his messages to his family ...Read more

Illinois health leaders should part ways with the federal government when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines and recommend the shots for all adults and many children, an influential state committee voted Monday.

The Illinois Department of Public Health Immunization Advisory Committee voted unanimously Monday to recommend updated COVID-19 vaccines ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s top doctor issued a standing order Monday allowing pharmacists to give COVID-19 vaccines without prescriptions to a broader group of patients than federally recommended.

The state Department of Health announced the order and that it was aligning with national medical organizations in encouraging broader use of the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The budget stalemate that threatens a potential federal government shutdown next week is also a battle over whether to continue helping consumers pay for their health care — help that about 1.8 million Californians use.

If the federal enhanced subsidies end, those state residents could see their monthly premiums nearly triple ...Read more

Does your child's school have a new phone policy starting this year? Some schools now ask students to keep phones away "bell-to-bell," from the start of classes through dismissal. Others use locking bags like the Yondr pouch to store phones during the day. Some only allow phones at lunch.

New school phone policies like these and more can mean ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Fields of plastic, or fake turf, are spreading across the Golden State from San Diego to Del Norte counties.

Some municipalities and school districts embrace them, saying they are good for the environment and promote kids' activity and health. But some cities including Los Angeles are considering banning the fields, citing ...Read more

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas — Jake Margo Jr. stood in the triage room at Starr County Memorial Hospital explaining why a person with persistent fever who could be treated with over-the-counter medication didn’t need to be admitted to the emergency room.

“We’re going to take care of the sickest patients first,” Margo, a family medicine ...Read more

Just before 8 a.m. on Jan. 31, an explosion rocked a nondescript one-story office building in an affluent suburb of Detroit.

The building was home to The Oxford Center, a health clinic that provided hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat a variety of disorders.

Inside the clinic, a spark had ignited the high-pressure, pure-oxygen atmosphere in a ...Read more

Trump administration officials, looking at the possible impact of large insurance premium increases for millions of next year’s Obamacare customers, want more people to consider plans with less generous benefits and high deductibles.

The agency that oversees the ACA announced early this month that it would expand eligibility for “...Read more

ST. LOUIS — Lying on top of an operating room table with his chest exposed, Larry Black Jr. was moments away from having his organs harvested when a doctor ran breathlessly into the room.

“Get him off the table,” the doctor recalled telling the surgical team at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital as the team cleaned Black’s chest...Read more

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked panel was expected to overhaul longstanding immunization recommendations for children this week.

It didn’t go as smoothly as planned.

Public health experts had been bracing for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP,...Read more

After a contentious discussion that at times referenced discredited theories, low-quality data and desperate pleas from physicians and patients to rely upon sound science, a key CDC committee opted Friday to punt its most consequential vaccine decisions to a future date.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices came extremely close to ...Read more

Medical device manufacturer Exactech has agreed to pay $8 million to settle allegations that it concealed defects in a popular line of artificial knee implants, which have been blamed for thousands of patient injuries in lawsuits.

The settlement resolves two whistleblower lawsuits alleging the Florida company violated the federal False Claims ...Read more

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has had a busy few months. He fired the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, purged the agency’s vaccine advisory committee, and included among the group’s new members appointees who espouse anti-vaccine views.

The leadership upheavals, which he says will ...Read more

I’ve never had cancer. But it has still shaped my entire life.

I’m a BRCA1 “previvor.” You may never have heard that term before; it was coined by an organization called FORCE over 25 years ago. I carry a gene mutation that increases my risk for breast and ovarian cancer and other kinds, and that’s why, even though I’m in my late ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Michigan Democrats in Congress are using the Sept. 30 government funding deadline to press for a permanent extension of plussed-up Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies that are set to expire at year's end and cause premium costs to spike for millions of Americans.

Most of the state’s Democratic House lawmakers said this ...Read more