What we’ve found in women’s health this week: A state quietly decided you shouldn’t pay to finish a cancer screening. Menopause demand just outpaced supply. Doctors are being told to believe women sooner. Bone health has become a competitive sport. And GLP-1s? The gender gap just got data.
STOPPING CERVICAL CANCER FOR FREE // Axios reports Oregon lawmakers unanimously passed a bill banning deductibles and copays not just for Pap tests, but for follow-up care after an abnormal result. If signed by Gov. Tina Kotek, Oregon would be the first state to eliminate out-of-pocket costs across the full cervical cancer screening process, so patients aren’t billed for actually finishing it.
WHERE’S MY PATCH? // The New York Times digs deeper on estrogen patches shortages nationwide, hitting 10 different estradiol formulations. Why? Prescriptions jumped 86% from 2021 to 2025 and manufacturers failed to keep up. Menopause may finally have more avenues for care, but it might be a while until patients can reliably get the basics.
TRUST THE PAIN // The nation’s biggest OBGYN group is telling doctors to stop waiting for surgery to diagnose endometriosis and to trust symptoms and imaging instead. The shift could spare patients years of dismissal, delay, and unnecessary pain.
BONES, BUT MAKE IT EXTREME // Emma Rosenblum takes on (and makes so fum of) the bone-density craze, from protein-loading to weighted-vest flexing: “I ask Dr. Tang if I have to dead lift my own weight, hop around the block or get a DEXA scan, and she laughs and says no. ‘If you’re not at high risk, you don’t have to do any of that,’ she says. ‘For the average person, it’s just lifestyle modifications. Some weight-bearing exercises, some strength training.’”
LADIES LOSE MORE // A review of nearly 20,000 people, women on GLP-1 drugs lost more weight than men, and that likely because of biology. Results were otherwise similar across age and race groups, suggesting sex may be one of the only meaningful differentiators in these high-cost meds.