A California Bill Is Trying to Ban the Chemicals in Your Favorite Candies

California legislators are considering a bill that could potentially ban the sale of Skittles and several other popular snacks because research shows some of the chemicals in them are toxic. The bill would force companies to change the recipes of some beloved sweets, including M&Ms and Nerds candy, or to take drastic measures and pull … Read more

Feds Move to Rein In Prior Authorization, a System That Harms and Frustrates Patients

When Paula Chestnut needed hip replacement surgery last year, a pre-operative X-ray found irregularities in her chest. As a smoker for 40 years, Chestnut was at high risk for lung cancer. A specialist in Los Angeles recommended the 67-year-old undergo an MRI, a high-resolution image that could help spot the disease. But her MRI appointment … Read more

Black Patients Dress Up and Modify Speech to Reduce Bias, California Survey Shows

A young mother in California’s Antelope Valley bathes her children and dresses them in neat clothes, making sure they look their very best — at medical appointments. “I brush their teeth before they see the dentist. Just little things like that to protect myself from being treated unfairly,” she told researchers. A 72-year-old in Los … Read more

Reentry Programs to Help Former Prisoners Obtain Health Care Are Often Underused

When Matthew Boyd was released from a Georgia state prison in December 2020, officials sent him home without medicines he uses to manage chronic heart and lung conditions and high blood pressure, he said. Less than a month later, he spent eight days in an intensive care unit, the first of more than 40 hospital … Read more