Your poop reveals key clues about your health — here are a few red flags to keep an eye on.

The next time you go number two, you should take a peek in the toilet. (You should actually be doing this after every bowel movement, doctors say.)

While certain things such as blood in your poop and frequent diarrhea are known red flags, it turns out that whether your poop floats or sinks in the toilet bowl matters for your health.

Generally, stools that sink mean one thing while stools that float can mean a whole host of other things (and most of these things aren’t good). Continue reading →

Trump pressures 17 pharma CEOs to cut US drug prices

New research reveals the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2,000 cap may not help most Medicare beneficiaries as insurers raise drug costs and deductibles. Image (c) ConsumerAffairs

President Donald Trump sent letters to the leaders of 17 major pharmaceutical companies outlining how they should slash U.S. prescription drug prices to match those paid overseas, the White House said on Thursday.

Trump signed a sweeping executive order in May demanding drugmakers cut U.S. medicine prices to match those abroad, saying that if companies did not comply, the government could use rulemaking to bring prices down or pursue other measures, such as importing cheaper medicines from overseas.

Trump sent the letters to the chief executives of Eli Lilly (LLY.N), opens new tab, Sanofi (SASY.PA), opens new tab, Regeneron (REGN.O), opens new tab, Merck & Co (MRK.N), opens new tab, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N), opens new tab, and AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab, among others, after industry proposals on implementing his order fell short, the president said. Copies of the letters were posted on his Truth Social account.

Shares of Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab and Eli Lilly dropped about 2% each, while the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index (.DRG), opens new tab was down 2.4%.

Trump called on drugmakers to provide so-called most-favored-nation prices to every patient enrolled in the government Medicaid health program for low-income people, and to guarantee such pricing for new drugs…. (Continue to full article)

A Big Change Is Coming To Medicare In 2026
To combat fraud and cut costs, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will launch a new pilot program In 2026 that will delay some treatments for retirees and other Medicare recipients. Currently, most treatments are performed for patients on Medicare prior to any approvals from CMS. However, starting in 2026, medical providers that choose to participate in CMS’ new program, the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction Model or WISeR, will instead hold off on providing services until after they receive approval from CMS — who has stated the program will consult with AI, medical professionals, and machine learning programs — to see if the treatment in question is deemed necessary.

The purpose of this program, and pre-screening process, is to slash wasteful and fraudulent spending, which represents up to 25% of health care spending in the United States, per CMS, which amounted to up to $5.8 billion in 2022.

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation listed 17 specific treatments that will be targeted under the WISeR program. This includes five stimulator services such as deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease and Urinary Incontinence, two skin and tissue substitutes related to wounds in the lower extremities, as well as lavage (visually guided saline injections) and debridement procedures related to treating osteoarthrosis of the knee. Steroid injections for pain management, cervical fusions, incontinence control devices, and treatment of impotence will also be scrutinized… (Continue to full article)

8 “Safe” Prescription Drugs That Are Quietly Wrecking Your Health
Prescription drugs are supposed to heal the body and ease suffering, but what happens when the cure quietly chips away at well-being? Every year, millions of people trust medications that promise relief from pain, anxiety, insomnia, or chronic conditions. Yet hidden beneath the fine print and doctor’s notes are side effects that can linger for years or even cause new, unexpected health issues.

What often starts as a short-term fix can end up becoming a long-term battle against fatigue, dependence, or organ damage. Here are eight “safe” prescription drugs that deserve a closer look before the next refill is picked up from the pharmacy… (Continue to full article)

The Cause of Alzheimer’s Might Be Coming From Within Your Mouth
In recent years, an increasing number of scientific investigations have backed an alarming hypothesis: Alzheimer’s disease may not be merely a condition of an aging brain, but the product of infection.

While the exact mechanisms of this infection are something researchers are still trying to isolate, numerous studies suggest the deadly emergence of Alzheimer’s goes way beyond what we used to think.

One such study, published in 2019, suggested what could be one of the most definitive leads yet for a bacterial culprit behind Alzheimer’s, and it comes from a somewhat unexpected quarter: gum disease.

Watch the video below for a summary of their study:

(Continue to full article)