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"The Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a pill version of Wegovy, Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight loss drug. The Wegovy pill, as it’s called, is first oral version of a GLP-1 drug that has been brought to market for weight loss. A second pill, from Eli Lilly, is also expected to be approved in the coming months."

NBC News

FDA approves Wegovy weight loss pill from Novo Nordisk

The pill is the first oral GLP-1 drug to be cleared for weight loss.

#healthcare #FDA #PrescriptionDrugs #obesity #medicare #DrugPrices #CostsOfCare

"Attendance at schools across the area has dropped dramatically since the start of the immigration crackdown. In Jefferson Parish, where 39% of students are Hispanic, attendance was almost 9 percentage points lower than it was immediately after Thanksgiving break in 2024, according to district data obtained by Verite News. Rates have risen since then, but are still lower than they were last year." https://veritenews.org/2025/12/22/new-orleans-immigration-sweeps-students/ #PublicHealth #MentalHealth #schools #immigrant #immigration #ICE

"Basu was among the more than 3,000 people who turned up at a November CalOptima event in one of California’s most affluent counties. It marked the start of a $20 million campaign by the Medicaid health insurer to help low-income residents get and maintain health coverage and food benefits as federal restrictions under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act take effect."

KFF Health News

Medicaid Health Plans Step Up Outreach Efforts Ahead of GOP Changes - KFF Health News

Even as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers say the One Big Beautiful Bill Act targets waste, fraud, and abuse, Medicaid health plans are host...

#healthcare #medicaid #PublicHealth #SNAP #FoodInsecurity #FoodAid #FoodAssistance

"State psychiatric hospitals nationwide have largely lost the ability to treat patients before their mental health deteriorates and they are charged with crimes. Driving the problem is a meteoric rise in the share of patients with criminal cases who stay significantly longer, generally by court order."

KFF Health News

Criminally Ill: Systemic Failures Turn State Mental Hospitals Into Prisons - KFF Health News

There has been a steep rise in the share of people with severe mental illnesses being sent to state psychiatric hospitals on court orders after bei...

#healthcare #MentalHealth #hospitals #CriminalJustice #RuralHealth #SubstanceUse #homeless #unhoused

"A recent graduate of the LSU Health New Orleans School of Nursing has been held in an ICE processing center in Basile, Louisiana, for the past six months following her arrest by immigration agents over the summer...Palacios said she applied for asylum as a child. She had previously been granted a work permit and had requested another when she was arrested in June. She does not have any criminal convictions."

the Guardian

Louisiana nursing student speaks out during her six-month ICE detention

Vilma Palacios, 22, tells local outlet ‘I want my freedom back’ as she may be forced to return to Honduras

#healthcare #nurses #immigrant #immigration #ICE #detention

"Progressives are pushing Medicare for All in some of the Democratic Party’s most competitive Senate primaries next year, threatening the unity the party has found on attacking Republicans over expiring Obamacare subsidies." https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/21/democrats-have-been-united-in-bashing-the-gop-on-obamacare-medicare-for-all-could-reopen-a-rift-00701232 #healthcare #ACA #insurance #medicare #obamacare #UScongress #USpol

"Seasonal viruses—including influenza and norovirus—are surging across country ahead of one of the busiest holiday travel weeks, increasing the risk of outbreaks among families gathering to celebrate."

Newsweek

Flu and norovirus cases surge ahead of busy holiday travel week

Health officials have warned this season’s flu is being driven largely by the newly identified H3N2 subclade K strain.

#PublicHealth #flu #influenza #norovirus #covid #handwashing #vaccines #immunizations

"U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the U.S. Pharmaceutical companies Amgen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Gilead Sciences, GSK, Merck, Novartis and Sanofi will now rein in Medicaid drug prices to match what they charged in other developed countries."

AP News

Trump announces lower drug price deals with 9 pharmaceutical companies

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the U.S.

#healthcare #medicaid #PrescriptionDrugs #DrugPrices #CostsOfCare

"Parents of children with thalassemia in India say they are devastated after life-saving blood transfusions left their children HIV-positive, confronting them with illness, social stigma, and uncertainty."

Thalassemia: Five children test positive for HIV in India's Madhya Pradesh

The five cases in Madhya Pradesh state come weeks after a similar incident was reported in Jharkhand state.

#PublicHealth #HIV #thalassemia #blood #transfusions #ChildrensHealth #India