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An age-old fear grows more common: ‘I’m going to die alone’

This summer, at dinner with her best friend, Jacki Barden raised an uncomfortable topic: the possibility that she might die alone.

16 Oct 2025

Mass General Brigham study shows US obesity could jump from 40% to 70%

The prevalence of obesity in the United States could rise sharply under a new definition of obesity released earlier this year by the Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology Commission.

16 Oct 2025

SGLT-2 inhibitors offer protection against autoimmune conditions

Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors used to treat type 2 diabetes are associated with an 11% lower risk of autoimmune rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, compared with another group of diabetes drugs called sulfonylureas, finds a study from South Korea published by The BMJ today.

15 Oct 2025

RFK Jr. misses mark in touting rural health transformation fund as historic infusion of cash

At a September Senate hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. boasted about a rural health initiative within President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

15 Oct 2025

California’s health insurance marketplace braces for chaos as shutdown persists

California this week plans to notify Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees that their costs could rise sharply next year unless Congress extends subsidies to help people buy health insurance.

14 Oct 2025

HEPA purifiers do not fully reduce classroom viral exposure

In a secondary analysis of a study of 200 classrooms, Mass General Brigham researchers found respiratory viral exposures were still high in those with HEPA purifiers, suggesting additional interventions are needed.

10 Oct 2025

Repeated sampling offers insight into glioblastoma therapy response

A multi-institutional study from the Accelerating GBM Therapies Through Serial Biopsies TeamLab, led by investigators from the Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, found that serially testing tumor samples can help detect when a cancer treatment is activating the immune system in recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), even when traditional imaging measures cannot.

8 Oct 2025

Improved five-year cancer survival observed after Medicaid expansion

Adoption of Medicaid expansion in U.S. states appeared to improve both five-year cause-specific and overall survival in cancer patients.

8 Oct 2025

Why Democrats are casting the government shutdown as a health care showdown

Hours into the federal government shutdown, Julio Fuentes stood steps from the U.S. Capitol to deliver an urgent message about the Hispanic voting bloc that helped the GOP sweep into power last year.

6 Oct 2025

GOP falsely ties shutdown to Democrats’ alleged drive to give all immigrants health care

As the U.S. headed for a government shutdown, Republicans repeatedly accused Democrats of forcing the closure because they want to give health care access to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

6 Oct 2025

Health centers face risks as government funding lapses

About 1,500 federally funded health centers that serve millions of low-income people face significant financial challenges, their leaders say, as the government shutdown compounds other cuts to their revenue.

3 Oct 2025

Study finds limited value of CGM data for non-diabetic individuals

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are wearable technologies that track blood sugar in real time and help patients with type 2 diabetes improve blood sugar control.

2 Oct 2025

Wearable device can help lower relapse risk in early addiction recovery

A new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham shows that a non-drug, wearable device can help people with substance use disorders (SUD) manage stress, reduce cravings, and lower their risk of relapse in real time.

2 Oct 2025

NIH funds multi-state pilot for genome sequencing in newborn screening

Mass General Brigham and Ariadne Labs, alongside Boston Children's Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), Case Western Reserve University, Baylor College of Medicine, and sequencing partners GeneDx and Illumina, today announced the launch of BEACONS (Building Evidence and Collaboration for GenOmics in Nationwide Newborn Screening), the nation's first multi-state genomic newborn screening initiative.

2 Oct 2025

Workers’ wages siphoned to pay medical bills, despite consumer protections

Stacey Knoll thought the court summons she received was a scam. She didn't remember getting any medical bills from Montrose Regional Health, a nonprofit hospital, after a 2020 emergency room visit.

2 Oct 2025

Health care’s employment growth clouded by immigration crackdown, Medicaid cuts

The health care sector is a bright spot in the economy this year, driving nearly half of the nation's employment gains, but economists and experts say immigration crackdowns and looming Medicaid cuts pose a threat to future job growth.

30 Sep 2025

Where jobs are scarce, over 1 million people could dodge Trump’s Medicaid work rules

Millions of Medicaid enrollees may have a way out of the new federal work requirement — if they live in a county with high unemployment.

29 Sep 2025

Firearm injuries cost U.S. hospitals billions and strain safety-net centers

The initial hospital treatment of firearm injuries cost the U.S. health care system an estimated $7.7 billion between 2016 and 2021, with the largest share falling on urban trauma center hospitals that serve the highest proportion of Medicaid patients, reports a new study led by Northwestern Medicine.

26 Sep 2025

Big loopholes in hospital charity care programs mean patients still get stuck with the tab

Quinn Cochran-Zipp went to the emergency room three times with severe abdominal pain before doctors figured out she had early-stage cancer in the germ cells of her right ovary.

25 Sep 2025

AI will soon have a say in approving or denying Medicare treatments

Taking a page from the private insurance industry's playbook, the Trump administration will launch a program next year to find out how much money an artificial intelligence algorithm could save the federal government by denying care to Medicare patients.

25 Sep 2025