Tonight: Virginia just made birth control free, what menopause supplements actually work, why endometriosis takes years to diagnose, and more.
— Meghan McCarthy
VIRGINIA MADE BIRTH CONTROL FREE. FOR REAL THIS TIME. // Virginia's Contraceptive Equity Act, signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger, requires private insurers to cover a broader range of birth control with no out-of-pocket cost starting in 2027 — including over-the-counter options like condoms and pills, no prescription needed. An amendment from Spanberger lets patients request a specific drug at the pharmacy without going through a longer insurer approval process. The law doesn't cover Medicaid or Medicare. Advocates say success will depend on whether pharmacists and insurers actually follow it.
THE MENOPAUSE SUPPLEMENT MARKET IS MOSTLY NOISE // Social media is full of powders and capsules promising to fix perimenopause. The Conversation breaks down what the evidence actually supports: magnesium has modest evidence for sleep and anxiety, and some benefit for bone density, but does nothing for hot flashes. Lion's mane has almost no human trial data in menopausal women, and while creatine shows promise for muscle mass it also hasn't been studied in menopause specifically. Collagen has no evidence for hormonal symptoms. HRT remains the most effective treatment for most symptoms — the supplement market is filling a gap that exists largely because HRT is still under-prescribed.
ENDOMETRIOSIS TAKES YEARS TO DIAGNOSE. HERE'S ONE REASON WHY. // Two studies found that primary care physicians are generally good at catching endometriosis when it presents with classic gynecological symptoms, but they miss it when symptoms are gastrointestinal, cyclical, or non-specific. There's also a "diagnostic hierarchy" problem: endometriosis gets considered only after other conditions are ruled out. Stigma around menstruation still affects both whether patients seek help and how doctors assess them. The condition affects around 1 in 10 women of reproductive age.
MEN ARE NOW HAVING FEWER CHILDREN THAN WOMEN // A global analysis from the Max Planck Institute found that 2024 was the first year worldwide that men's total fertility rate dropped below women's, driven by rising proportions of men in the population due to narrowing mortality gaps and sex-selective abortions in some countries. The researchers note that men who remain childless face worse health outcomes and growing dependence on care in old age, and call for urgent policy responses. They also flag that strengthening women's social position — to reduce sex-selective abortions — is one of the proposed fixes.
CDC BURIED A STUDY SHOWING COVID VACCINES WORK // A report showing last winter's Covid vaccine cut emergency room visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half was blocked from publication in the CDC's flagship journal, the MMWR, after the agency's acting director raised concerns about methodology. The paper had already cleared scientific review. Scientists outside HHS say the methodology, which has been widely used in vaccine research and published in NEJM and Pediatrics, is sound, and that HHS hasn't proposed a realistic alternative.