Health

(TEL-AVIV, Israel) — The last day of the polio vaccination campaign is wrapping up in Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.

The campaign was launched after the first case of polio in Gaza in more than 25 years was recently detected. Health officials from the WHO, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health and partner organizations said they would be vaccinating children in three-day phases starting in central Gaza, then in southern Gaza, and ending in the north.

As of Thursday morning, more than 552,000 children under age 10 out of 640,000 have been vaccinated in Gaza, according to the WHO. The organization said at least 90% coverage is needed to stop a potential outbreak in Gaza, and the campaign may be extended if that 90% figure isn’t achieved on Thursday.

Poliovirus was first detected in sewage samples from the cities of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis – in central and southern Gaza, respectively – in mid-July, in tests conducted by the Gaza Ministry of Health in coordination with the UN.

In mid-August, the Ministry of Health reported the first case of polio in Gaza in 25 years, in a 10-month-old child who had not been vaccinated. Doctors suspected polio after symptoms resembled the virus, which was confirmed in test conducted in Amman, the capital of Jordan, according to the WHO.

Children are receiving two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), which has been used for outbreak response under the WHO’s Emergency Use Listing approval since March 2021. A second dose is typically given four weeks after the first.

“We want to protect our children from diseases and give them the necessary vaccines because prevention is better than cure,” Islam Saleh, a mother in northern Gaza, said in a video issued by the United Nations (UN) on Wednesday.

“I fear for my son because there is no cure for polio. This dose he received will protect him, and it is safe,” Saleh added.

Officials have said that the vaccination operation is complicated by access restrictions, evacuation orders and fuel shortages. Israel has agreed to “temporary” pauses in fighting each day in order for the vaccinations to be administered.

Earlier this week, a convoy of UN vehicles in northern Gaza was stopped and questioned by Israeli Security Forces before being released, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

Polio largely affects children under age 5 and can lead to paralysis or death. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, there are about 341,000 children under the age of five in Gaza.

Children in the U.S. are recommended to get the inactivated polio vaccine as part of routine childhood immunization, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It consists of four doses in total administered first at 2 months of age, then at 4 months, 6-18 months, and 4-6 years.

“It has been heartening to see the response to the campaign,” the WHO said in comments released after a press briefing on Thursday. “Everywhere the team has gone, parents are doing all they can to ensure their child does not miss vaccination. Many vaccination sites received more than expected crowds. Special coordinated missions were also conducted to reach children in insecure and heard to reach areas.”

ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Dana Savir contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Elevated levels of lead have been found in 12 of 36 ground cinnamon products and spice blends, according to a Consumer Reports article published Thursday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not set lead-level thresholds for spices, but three of the products exceeded a proposed cutoff set by the American Spice Trade Association, and 12 exceeded a more stringent cutoff level set by New York State.

The level of lead identified in these products is not likely to pose an immediate health risk. There are trace levels of lead and other heavy metals in many of the foods we eat.

The problem, experts say, can come from repeat exposure or exposure to higher levels, especially for children or pregnant women.

Because of these health concerns, the FDA is actively monitoring ground cinnamon supplies and has recently alerted the public about certain products.

Last year, a major recall of apple cinnamon pouches with high lead levels led to health problems in at least 90 confirmed cases. This year, the FDA has released multiple health alerts for ground cinnamon products with elevated lead levels.

In July, several New York distributors recalled ground cinnamon products that were potentially contaminated with increased levels of lead.

The cinnamon tested in the Consumer Reports investigation included store-bought cinnamon and other cinnamon-containing spice mixtures. Again, three of these products had levels exceeding a proposed cutoff set by the American Spice Trace Association. When contacted by Consumer Reports, two of the three companies (Paras and EGN) said they would withdraw those products from the market.

Cinnamon may have a higher lead level risk because cinnamon trees grow for years before their bark is harvested, giving them more time to absorb lead in the soil.

In small amounts, lead exposure may not lead to any symptoms, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that significant or chronic lead exposure can cause various health issues including hypertension, kidney dysfunction, or cognitive issues in adults, and central nervous system damage like seizures and developmental defects such as learning disorders or other long-term health problems in children.

Doctors say there is no known safe level of lead for children.

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(NEW YORK) — A new report by March of Dimes found that over 5.5 million women live in U.S. counties experiencing limited to no access to maternity care resources that include hospitals or birthing centers, obstetric care or obstetricians.

The report is the latest by the maternity care-centric nonprofit to highlight a worsening state of maternity care in the U.S., with a rise in closure of hospital obstetric units contributing to what the organization calls “a growing maternal and infant health crisis.”

March of Dimes estimated that more than 2.3 million women of reproductive age live in counties deemed to be maternity care deserts, with approximately 150,000 births in these counties. More than three million additional women live in counties with limited maternity care access.

“We’re going from bad to worse. We already have the worst maternal mortality rate of our industrial peer countries, and we know that access matters,” Dr. Amanda Williams, March of Dimes’ chief medical officer, told ABC News. “If we don’t have access, then we don’t even have a chance.”

Maternity care deserts have a significant impact on health outcomes for expecting women. Data shows that women in maternity care deserts have a 13% chance of experiencing preterm birth, and receive inadequate prenatal care at higher rates, according to the report. Low-income and women of color are disproportionately affected.

People in maternity care deserts have to travel approximately 2.6 times further to receive care than those who live in counties where care exists, and early data has found that ob-gyns are leaving states with strictest abortion bans, Williams said.

“As the report suggests, the Dobbs decision — the effects of which have yet to be fully realized — is likely playing a major role in the already shrinking ob-gyn workforce in many rural areas of the country,” Dr. Stella Dantas, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement.

“As we continue to find ways to increase access, we must also vigorously combat legislative interference in the practice of medicine so that clinicians are free to practice without fear of criminalization and patients are able to get the care they need and deserve in the communities they live and raise their families in,” the statement continued.

Approximately 35% of all U.S. counties are now considered maternity care deserts, having no birthing facilities or obstetricians. North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Oklahoma and Nebraska are the most impacted states, according to March of Dimes.

Since 2022, over 100 counties experienced a decline in maternity care access, totaling over 100 hospitals closing their obstetric units, resulting in delayed access to emergency care and forcing families to travel farther to receive critical care, according to the report.

Between 2015 and 2022, the prevalence of pre-pregnancy hypertension rose by over 80%, according to March of Dimes. Preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition that causes a pregnant woman’s blood pressure to rise, can lead to preterm birth, stroke, seizure, and other complications for expecting women.

In maternity care deserts, the rates of pre-pregnancy hypertension was 1.3 times higher than counties with full access to care, according to the report.

Leveraging telehealth services, improving reimbursement policies for obstetric services at hospitals, and improving access to midwifery services are some of the policy solutions to improve care, Williams noted.

“Not only are there people, a lot of people who live in these maternity care deserts, there are beautiful things, just as in the natural desert, you might find a gorgeous flower or cactus,” Dr. Williams said. “There are churches, there are community centers, there are community based organizations. And so we need to figure out how in healthcare and in public health, we can partner with some of those organizations to be able to extend care to those who live in maternity care deserts.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Health care was one of the topics at the forefront of Tuesday night’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump said he was interested in replacing the Affordable Care Act — also known as “Obamacare” — but implied that he didn’t have any specific plans in place.

“Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was,” Trump said. “It’s not very good today and, what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”

When asked by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis to clarify if he had a health care plan, the former president said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the ACA but provided no details.

“If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population, less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it,” Trump said.

“But if we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive,” he said later in the debate. “And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”

Last year, Trump posted on Truth Social that the ACA “sucks” and that he didn’t want to “terminate” the law but “replace it with much better health care.”

Dr. Dennis Scanlon, a distinguished professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, told ABC News there’s been much less of a focus on repealing and replacing ACA from Trump than seen in 2016 and 2020.

“I think what’s been noticeable in this election cycle [is] less discussion about the Affordable Care Act in terms of let’s repeal it or get rid of it,” he said. “I think last night in the debate, [Trump] basically straddled and said, ‘You know, if I can figure out a way to make it better, and we’re working on some concepts, we’ll do it, but not, that we will get rid of it.’ So I think that’s just different from what it’s been in the last two cycles.”

Scanlon mentioned that repealing the ACA is not even mentioned in the official 2024 Republican Party platform.

In 2010, then-President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law, requiring most Americans to have insurance and directing states to create health insurance exchanges to allow residents to sign up for insurance if they don’t receive coverage via an employer.

During his administration, Trump attempted to partially repeal the ACA by passing the American Health Care Act (ACHA). The plan would have repealed the individual mandate and the employer mandate, amended Medicaid eligibility and weakened protections for patients with pre-existing conditions.

The ACHA passed the House in May 2017 but failed to pass in the Senate. Perhaps mostly infamously, the Senate attempted to pass a so-called “skinny repeal” in late July 2017 but it was rejected, with Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski siding with Senate Democrats to kill the bill.

In December 2017, a Republican tax reform law was passed that eliminated individual mandates, which Gallup said may have reduced participation in the insurance marketplace.

At the end of 2019, 13.7% of adults were without health insurance at the end of 2018, the highest level seen since early 2014, according to Gallup data.

In December 2019, Trump issued an executive order requiring all hospitals to make public standard charges, payer-specific negotiated charges, the amount the hospital is willing to accept in cash and the minimum and maximum negotiated charges.

“This an area where an attempt has been made … but the way it has played out has been challenging and not very effective,” Scanlon said, referring to a KFF analysis which found that transparency data was often inconsistent and confusing. “Such transparency is fundamental to reform and improvement in health care markets.”

In a statement to ABC News, Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, restated the former president’s commitment to release details soon.

“As President Trump said, he will release more details but his overall position on health care remains the same: bring down costs and increase the quality of care by improving competition in the market place,” she said. “This is a stark contrast to Kamala Harris’ support for a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system which would force people off their private plans and result in lower quality care.”

During the debate, Harris criticized Trump’s previous attempts to repeal the ACA, saying she wants to grow and expand the legislation. Her campaign platform mentions expanding the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription medication costs for seniors to all Americans.

“There’s been a little bit of detail from the Harris campaign, but I would say also not much,” Scanlon said. “There’s some discussion about negotiating drugs, insulin prices, there has been some work done in that … but there’s a lot more to be done.”

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(NEW YORK) — A recall on apple juice due to potentially harmful levels of arsenic has expanded to include more brands sold at several additional retailers across the country.

The initial voluntary recall by Refresco Beverages was first announced in a class 2 enforcement report from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month and included 9,535 cases of Great Value 100% Apple Juice sold at Walmart. On Monday, the recall was updated to a total of 133,500 cases of juice, which were sold at several stores in addition to Walmart, under varying brand names.

According to the FDA’s report, the recalled product “contains inorganic arsenic above action level set in guidance to industry.”

“The safety of consumers is always our top priority,” the Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages said in a new statement on its website. “On August 23, 2024, out of an abundance of caution, we voluntarily initiated a recall of some select lots of 100% apple juice products produced using supplier provided concentrate when we became aware that previously manufactured product contained inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level as set by the FDA in June 2023 in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice.”

“At this time there are no reported incidents caused by these products,” the statement continued. “We are working diligently to address the situation and encourage consumers to check the FDAs recall list … and use the information on their site to determine if they are in possession of products that fall within this proactive, voluntary recall.”

Apple juice recall expands to more brands, retailers

The newly expanded recall now includes juice that was sold at Aldi, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Market Basket, Walgreens and Weis Markets, under brands such as Nice! 100% Apple Juice and Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice, among others.

Click here for the full list of affected products from the FDA.

Originally, the Great Value brand apple juice sold at Walmart in 25 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia was the only brand recalled by Refresco Beverages.

Product details of recalled apple juice by store

The first wave of contaminated Great Value beverages in question were sold in six-packs of 8-ounce plastic bottles with the UPC code 0-78742-29655-5. The product had a “best if used by” date code of DEC2824 CT89-6.

All of the products were produced by Tampa, Florida-based Refresco Beverages US Inc.

Below, see details for the items included in the newly expanded recall.

Walmart

Recalled products sold at Walmart include Great Value 8-ounce Apple Juice in six-pack plastic bottles with “best if used by” dates of Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2024, and Great Value 96-ounce Apple Juice with “best by” dates of Dec. 26, Dec. 27 and Dec. 28, 2024.

The six-pack juice bottles were sold in stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The 96-ounce containers were sold in Walmart stores in Indiana, Ohio, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and Virginia.

Aldi

Aldi is recalling Nature’s Nectar 64-ounce plastic bottles of 100% Apple Juice with “best by” dates of March 26 and 27, 2025. This product bears the UPC code 4099100036381 and was sold at Aldi stores in 16 states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin, according to a press release from Aldi U.S.

Walgreens

Walgreens is recalling Nice! 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a March 25, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Key Food

Key Food is recalling Urban Meadow 100% Apple Juice sold in 64-ounce bottles with a March 26, 2025, “best by” date. The products were sold in Pennsylvania stores.

BJ’s Wholesale Club

BJ’s Wholesale Club is recalling Wellsley Farms 100% Apple Juice 96-ounce bottles with a “best by” date of March 26, 2025. These products were sold in Florida, Massachusetts and New Jersey.

Dollar General

Dollar General is recalling Clover Valley 100% Apple Juice with a “best by” date of March 27, 2025. The product was sold at the discount retailer locations in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Ohio and South Carolina.

Weis

Weis 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce bottles with a “sell by”‘ date of March 25, 2025, are also impacted by the expanded recall. The products were sold at stores in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Market Basket

The supermarket chain is recalling Market Basket 100% Apple Juice from concentrate in 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 25, 2025. The impacted product was sold in Maine.

Lidl

Lidl is recalling Solevita 100% Apple Juice 64-ounce plastic bottles with the “best by” date March 27, 2025. This product was sold in Virginia.

Company responds to apple juice recalled over arsenic levels

In an earlier statement to ABC News when the recall was first initiated, a representative for Refresco said, “We are aware that certain lots of the 100% apple juice we previously manufactured contains inorganic arsenic slightly above the FDA’s 10 ppb (parts per billion) action level in the FDA Final Guidance to Industry on Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Apple Juice, which aims at reducing the dietary exposure of contaminants to as low as possible. As a result, impacted products are being voluntarily recalled.”

The statement continued, “At this time there are no reported complaints or incidents of illness caused by the product. Per the FDA, it is not possible to completely prevent arsenic from entering the food supply, yet exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic can have adverse health effects.”

The representative added that “the safety of consumers and the satisfaction of our customers are our top priorities” and that the company is “working diligently to address the situation.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story was published on Aug. 26, 2024.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo began his public testimony before Congress on Tuesday by defending his administration’s nursing home policies during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hearing, before the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, addressed Cuomo’s decision to allow COVID-19-positive patients back into nursing homes and long-term care facilities while the pandemic was underway.

Cuomo previously testified before the subcommittee during a closed-door hearing in June.

“The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the CDC on March 13, 2020, [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] CMS issued guidance — let us trust the word ‘guidance’ — that specifically directed nursing homes to not accept COVID-19-positive patients if they were unable to do so safely and to only accept individuals if the nursing home could follow CDC transmission based guidance,” subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in his opening statement on Tuesday.

In March 2020, as COVID-19 cases were surging, Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to readmit all residents who were “medically stable” and returning after being hospitalized for the virus.

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order read. It further stated that nursing homes were “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

However, Cuomo responded that the CMS and CDC, under the administration under former President Donald Trump, advised that “that COVID-positive people could go from hospitals to nursing homes, even if they were still infectious. That was your ruling.”

“‘The March 25 guidance was consistent with the CMS guidance. The March 25 guidance was consistent with the CMS guidance if nursing homes have the ability to adhere to infection prevention and control recommendations.’ That’s the attorney general’s position opinion,” Cuomo said, referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

At the time of the directive, Cuomo explained that the order would help expand hospital capacity to meet the demands of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients. After facing criticism from nursing home advocates, however, the governor amended the order in May 2020, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they first tested negative for COVID-19.

“The March 25 directive was dubbed a ‘must admit order’ by the public and press, and rightfully so,” Wenstrup said, addressing the former New York governor. “Your directive was not consistent with federal guidance, nor consistent with medical doctrine. You do not put highly contagious patients in with vulnerable patients. subject to infection, and in this case death.”

Cuomo fought back against criticism of his policies and, in July 2020, a report from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) stated that COVID-19 was introduced into nursing homes by infected staff, and that peak staff infections correlated with peak nursing home resident deaths. The report also found that “admissions policies were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities.”

However, in January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found the NYSDOH had undercounted the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 by as much as 50%, and failed to count in its official death tally nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after being admitted to hospitals.

In total, more than 15,000 nursing home residents in New York died of COVID-19.

In 2022, Cuomo’s representative said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not file criminal charges in connection with the former governor’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, an independent investigation, commissioned by current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that although Cuomo’s nursing home response policy was based on “the best available data at the time,” communication to the public was poor and caused anxiety for family members of nursing home residents.

“Even the most well-intentioned policy had unforeseen consequences in [New York state] nursing homes,” the report read.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is set to publicly testify Tuesday before Congress on his administration’s nursing home policies during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The hearing, before the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, will see Cuomo defend his decision to allow COVID-19-positive patients back into nursing homes and long-term care facilities while the pandemic was underway.

Cuomo previously testified before the subcommittee during a closed-door hearing in June. Transcripts from that interview, as well as with high-ranking officials during Cuomo’s administration, will be released ahead of the public hearing.

“Andrew Cuomo owes answers to the 15,000 families who lost loved ones in New York’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic,” subcommittee Chairman Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said in a statement last week. “On September 10, Americans will have the opportunity to hear directly from the former governor about New York’s potentially fatal nursing home policies.”

In March 2020, as COVID-19 cases were surging, Cuomo issued an order requiring nursing homes to readmit all residents who were “medically stable” and returning after being hospitalized for the virus.

“No resident shall be denied re-admission or admission to the [nursing home] solely based on a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19,” the order read. 

It further stated that nursing homes were “prohibited from requiring a hospitalized resident who is determined medically stable to be tested for COVID-19 prior to admission or readmission.”

At the time, Cuomo explained that the order would help expand hospital capacity to meet the demands of caring for the sickest COVID-19 patients. After facing criticism from nursing home advocates, however, the governor amended the order in May 2020, prohibiting hospitals from discharging patients to nursing homes unless they first tested negative for COVID-19.

Cuomo fought back against criticism of his policies and, in July 2020, a report from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) stated that COVID-19 was introduced into nursing homes by infected staff, and that peak staff infections correlated with peak nursing home resident deaths. The report also found that “admissions policies were not a significant factor in nursing home fatalities.”

However, in January 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James released a report that found the NYSDOH had undercounted the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 by as much as 50%, and failed to count in its official death tally nursing home residents who died of COVID-19 after being admitted to hospitals.

In 2022, Cuomo’s representative said the Manhattan District Attorney’s office would not file criminal charges in connection with the former governor’s handling of nursing home deaths during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, an independent investigation, commissioned by current New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that although Cuomo’s nursing home response policy was based on “the best available data at the time,” communication to the public was poor and caused anxiety for family members of nursing home residents.

“Even the most well-intentioned policy had unforeseen consequences in [New York state] nursing homes,” the report read.

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(NEW YORK) — A poultry farm in Wisconsin has recalled all of its eggs distributed in three states that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked to dozens of sicknesses as part of a Salmonella outbreak across nine states.

Details of multi-state salmonella outbreak, egg recall

Milo’s Poultry Farms LLC issued a recall on all carton sizes of all chicken egg types and expiration dates sold under two different labels, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced with the company on Sept. 6.

Milo’s Poultry Farms’ eggs were distributed in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan through retail stores and food service distributors.

The Bonduel-based producer issued the recall on “Milo’s Poultry Farms” and “Tony’s Fresh Market” branded eggs, “because these eggs have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems,” the company said in a statement.

“The recall was initiated after the FDA informed the company that environmental samples tested positive for the bacteria. FDA also conducted whole genome sequencing and found that the samples were related to an ongoing Salmonella outbreak investigation,” the company stated.

Milo’s Poultry Farms has ceased production and distribution as of the time of publication and “will undergo appropriate testing and sanitization of farms and processing equipment.”

The CDC has reported 65 total illnesses and 24 hospitalizations as of time of publication and the active investigation is ongoing.

Symptoms, side effects of salmonella

“Most people infected with Salmonella experience diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps. Symptoms usually start 6 hours to 6 days after swallowing the bacteria. Most people recover without treatment after 4 to 7 days,” according to the CDC.

“Some people—especially children younger than 5 years, adults 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems—may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization,” the agency notes.

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(NEW YORK) — Millions of American seniors are having a hard time affording their prescription medications, a new National Health Statistics report suggests.

The study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that approximately 4% of those aged 65 and older can’t afford their prescription at all, and more than 3% of them skipped doses, delayed filling a prescription or took less medication than prescribed to cut back on costs.

“Older adults that were food insecure were six times more likely to not get their prescription medication,” Robin A. Cohen, study co-author and statistician with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said.

Dr. Lalita Abhyankar, a family medicine physician based in San Francisco, told ABC News she often sees patients struggling to pay for their medications.

One of Abhyankar’s patients with diabetes couldn’t afford his monthly dose of insulin, so “he would ration out his insulin,” she said. Despite being on both Medicaid and Medicare, “the copay was challenging for him to do on a month-to-month basis,” she noted.

Abhyankar has also seen this problem when patients needed an expensive medication because cheaper alternatives haven’t worked.

“I’ve seen them do half a dose or take it once a day instead of the recommended twice or three times a day and then continue to walk around with uncontrolled high blood pressure,” Abhyankar said. “That increases their risk of stroke, heart attack, damage to the eyes and kidneys.”

She went on, “The downstream effects are going to be that we’re going to see more patients in hospitals, and emergency rooms. That puts a huge burden on the healthcare system.”

Generally, adults aged 65 and older qualify for universal health care under Medicare. That covers medical needs such as doctors’ visits and hospital stays.

Medications aren’t automatically included. Older adults must enroll in Medicare Part D, a separate prescription drug coverage plan, or a private insurance plan that helps pay for medications.

Even when they are covered, most Americans will still owe some amount for copays and premiums. When the expenses pile up, some choose to forego any coverage at all.

Abhyankar said there are ways to reduce the cost of prescriptions including websites such as GoodRx that can offer coupons for customers sometimes at lower prices. Another option is the online discount pharmacy Cost Plus Drugs, which has hundreds of medications available for purchase at lower prices.

Abhyankar also suggested that patients try insurance preferred pharmacy programs, which are pharmacies that have an agreement with an insurance plan to charge less to fill prescriptions.

Last month, the Biden administration announced an agreement with drug companies to lower the price of 10 prescription medications for people with Medicare Part D. The negotiated prices will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026.

Roshan Nebhrajani Bransden, MD, is a family medicine resident physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

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(NEW YORK) — As two NASA astronauts gear up for a months-long unplanned stay on the International Space Station (ISS), they may also be increasing their risk of radiation exposure.

Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams, who performed the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner, took off on June 5 and were only supposed to be in space for about one week.

However, several problems have arisen with the spacecraft, pushing their return to February 2025 aboard Space X’s Crew-9 Dragon spacecraft.

Space radiation is different from radiation experienced on Earth. It’s made up of three kinds of radiation: particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field, particles from solar flares and galactic cosmic rays, NASA said.

Earth is surrounded by a system of magnetic fields, called the magnetosphere, that protects people from harmful space radiation. However, the higher a person is in altitude, the higher the dose of radiation they are exposed to.

“It’s an order of normal magnitude,” Dr. Stanton Gerson, dean of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, told ABC News. “As you move [into] the atmosphere, you have increased radiation exposure.”

Due to prolonged exposure, astronauts can be at significant risk for radiation sickness and have a higher lifetime risk of cancer, central nervous system effects and degenerative diseases, according to NASA.

“In low earth orbit where the ISS is, astronauts are at least partially protected by the magnetosphere that protects Earth from the radiation exposure of deep space,” Dr. Rihana Bokhari, acting chief scientific officer at Baylor College of Medicine’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health, told ABC News.

“However, they do have a greater radiation exposure than those on Earth because the ISS passes through areas of trapped radiation in their orbit,” she continued. “Butch and Suni, since they are on the ISS, will not be exposed to enough radiation to seriously cause large impacts on body systems but the long duration exposure to greater radiation than on Earth could lead to an increase in the risk of cancer.”

Crews aboard the ISS receive an average of 80 mSv to 160 mSv during a six-month stay, according to a 2017 NASA report. Millisieverts (mSv) are units of measurement for how much radiation has been absorbed by the body.

Although the type of radiation is different, 1 mSv of space radiation is roughly the same as receiving three chest X-rays, the federal space agency said.

By comparison, a person on Earth receives an average of 2 mSv every year from just background radiation, NASA said.

Gerson said it’s fair to take the NASA estimates and cut them in half. This means for a three-month stay, the astronauts have a cumulative average risk of receiving 40 mSv to 80 mSv.

What’s harder to determine is the episodic risk from factors including solar flares, he said.

“There’s spike risks because there’s episodic waves of solar radiation and deep space ionic radiation that come through the magnetic field, and luckily Earth has a strong magnetic field that blocks a lot of that,” Gerson said. “If you’re on the other side of the moon, you don’t have that.”

Gerson added that NASA has done a good job of checking up on astronauts after they return to Earth as the agency and other researchers have learned more about how radiation affects the body and what signs to look for.

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