Opinion: Cost isn’t the only reason Medicare doesn’t cover Wegovy
Few medications have captured the national attention like Wegovy — and for good reason. In…
Category: First Opinion
.jpg)
Opinion: STAT readers on Census data, nutrition education, and a better approach to epinephrine
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Opinion: I went on a mind-boggling journey to get my son’s ADHD medication covered by insurance — twice
Last January, I went to fill my son’s ADHD prescription and was handed a bag…
Opinion: Providers shouldn’t be afraid of buprenorphine for opioid use disorder making it into the hands of someone without a prescription
In December 2022, Congress repealed the “X-waiver” requirement, which had limited medical providers’ ability to…
Opinion: Insurance companies are forcing psychiatrists like me to stop accepting their coverage
“I’m sorry, but I’m unable to take on new patients at this time.” I’ve said…
Opinion: Being a chronically ill young adult is hard enough. Finding information about my fertility is even harder
I recently turned 25. I should be taking risks, jet-setting with other Barbies, and flouncing…
Opinion: Buprenorphine, autism diagnoses, and long Covid: the most-read First Opinion essays of 2023
In a year of abortion restrictions, biotech industry upheaval, and revolutionary drug approvals, First Opinion…
Opinion: There’s a less intimidating alternative to EpiPens for dangerous allergic reactions. Why won’t the FDA approve it?
My son Thomas has carried around a needle since he entered kindergarten at the age…
Opinion: Gaza, Ukraine, and other conflicts could be accelerating antibiotic resistance
In recent months, evidence suggests, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in Gaza have led to…
Opinion: Remembering Betty Rollin, who told her breast surgeon that post-operative appearance mattered to her—and other women
Women who had undergone disfiguring surgery for breast cancer, according to one surgeon in the…
.jpg)
Opinion: People with food insecurity deserve better nutrition education
Since spring 2022, a flood of migrants fleeing political instability in Venezuela — about 136,000…
Opinion: Does food as medicine help patients with diabetes? Here’s what a new clinical trial says
Food-as-medicine programs that address food insecurity and diet-related chronic diseases have drawn widespread attention from…
Opinion: STAT readers on patient advocacy, the utility of diagnostic tests, and more
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Opinion: The unique pain and joy of celebrating Christmas with a child in the pediatric intensive care unit
In the days leading up to Christmas in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), medical…
Opinion: Why haven’t health care cost increases exceeded inflation? There’s a very good reason
All Americans are worried about inflation. The prices for housing, clothes and food at the…
Opinion: The U.S. must raise federal alcohol taxes to address the alarming rise in alcohol use
Eleven years ago, two days before Christmas, my 24-year-old brother, who was a university graduate…
Opinion: Racism infects neuroscience’s past and present. What about its future?
De-Shaine Murray is working at the cutting edge of neurotechnology. As a postdoctoral fellow at…
Opinion: There’s a public health crisis lurking in our data: the Census option ‘some other race’
According to the 2020 Census, the second most common race in America, after white, is…
Opinion: Alzheimer’s drug approvals show we need a reevaluation of patient advocacy
When faced with a loved one’s progressive neurodegenerative disease, like Alzheimer’s, or your child’s rare…
Opinion: STAT readers on teaching medical students about intellectual disabilities, sobering centers, and annual wellness visits
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Opinion: The WHO recognizes noma after years of medical-dental disconnect
Fidel Strub was 3 years old when his face began rotting away. “It’s hell. It’s…
Opinion: The Biden administration’s plan to use march-in rights to address drug prices would kill future world-changing innovations
The Bayh-Dole Act is widely credited with kickstarting a new era of American innovation involving the…
Opinion: The federal government fails to provide Americans with reproductive health information they need. Here’s a better approach
Soon after the end of Roe v. Wade, President Biden issued an executive order attempting…
Opinion: Europe’s lessons for the U.S. on how to cover weight loss drugs
It’s no secret that the obesity epidemic in the United States has reached alarming levels,…
Opinion: In mifepristone case, the Supreme Court must affirm the FDA’s authority. Medical innovation is at risk
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court announced it will soon weigh in on a case that…
Opinion: Exceptions to abortion restrictions often fail people like Kate Cox whose babies are sure to die
Imagine being in the midst of your pregnancy, and you learn that your baby is…
Opinion: Listen: When do tests hurt more than help?
Manil Suri and Daniel Morgan are an unusual team: Manil is a mathematics professor and…
Opinion: Sobering centers offer a safe place to recover from intoxication. Every community should have one
Every day, thousands of individuals across the United States call 911 due to concern about…
Opinion: New sickle cell disease CRISPR treatments can’t make up for the shortage of adult hematologists
After decades of limited progress in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD), both patients…
Opinion: It’s time to rethink the Medicare annual wellness visit
In 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services created the annual wellness visit (AWV),…
Opinion: STAT+: Dana-Farber CEO Laurie Glimcher has always been a trailblazer and a risk taker
Dr. Laurie Glimcher learned early on from her father, a prominent physician-researcher, that success in…
Opinion: U.S. medical schools aren’t teaching future doctors about 7.4 million of their patients
Oliver McGowan was 18 years old when he was hospitalized in England with recurrent seizures…
Opinion: STAT readers on diagnostic tests, marijuana regulation, and pediatric oncology
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Opinion: After living with sickle cell disease for 39 years, I’m both excited and skeptical about the newly approved gene therapies
For 39 years, I have lived with sickle cell disease. As of late, the sickle…
Opinion: STAT+: Health care AI requires a new Hippocratic oath
It was no surprise when the Biden administration recently outlined in a broad executive order…
Opinion: Clients bring politics into the therapy room. Here’s what that means for the therapist
“Can I tell you what I really think about what’s going on?” she asks, looking…
Opinion: Having a child with complex medical needs is hard enough. Navigating the health care system makes it worse
Many families take for granted the ritual of taking a newborn baby home, car seat…
Opinion: Listen: Rep. Raul Ruiz on going from the emergency room to Congress
Before he joined Congress, Rep. Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California, worked in another chaotic…
Opinion: STAT+: A bold approach to pay for weight loss drugs for everyone who needs them
The news about anti-obesity drugs keeps getting better. In November, data presented at the American…
Opinion: New abortion restrictions pose a serious threat to fetal surgery
The concept of fetal surgery captures the imagination when, from time to time, it makes…
Opinion: A well-meaning FDA policy is a threat to pediatric cancer treatment
The medical community today faces a deceptively simple question: How quickly should we act when…
Opinion: Big Weed today is a whole lot like Big Tobacco in the 1950s
OK, marijuana is now legal. So where’s the public health approach? Strictly speaking, marijuana use…
Opinion: STAT readers on burnt-out infectious disease doctors, 12-month prescriptions, and counting disabled Americans
STAT now publishes selected Letters to the Editor received in response to First Opinion essays…
Opinion: PEPFAR has been a lifeline in Ukraine. Now it’s under threat
In Ukraine, a little bit of good news can go a long way, and the…
Opinion: Diagnostic tests for rare conditions present a mathematical conundrum
Worried about your health? You can now avail yourself of noninvasive diagnostics that claim to…
Opinion: How artificial intelligence could make pregnancy discrimination in employment more common
In June 2023, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) went into effect. The federal law…
Opinion: Neuroscience has to grapple with a long legacy of racism if it wants to move into the future
Many parts of neuroscience research have a race problem. Black people are often excluded from…
Opinion: Listen: What we take for granted after 30 years of Prozac
When Prozac first entered the psychiatry scene in in the late ’80s, the profession was…
Opinion: Manufacturers need to be more open about a dangerous Alzheimer’s drug side effect
Since the FDA’s approval of lecanemab (marketed as Leqembi) and Medicare’s recent decision to cover…
Opinion: The next Census could undercount the number of disabled Americans by 20 million
About 20 million disabled people will be erased if the U.S. Census Bureau moves forward…