Tonight: women fear a healthcare bill more than a potentially deadly diagnosis, the estrogen patch shortage just landed at the FDA's doorstep, and more.
— Meghan McCarthy
WOMEN ARE MORE AFRAID OF THE BILL THAN THE DIAGNOSIS
A Cleveland Clinic survey found nearly half of US women are more worried about affording healthcare than they are about getting cancer, heart disease, or Alzheimer's. Maria Shriver presented the findings Thursday at the Cleveland Clinic Global Women's Health + WAM Forum. (If you click on the link, scroll down to see this specific story.)
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ONE IN TEN WOMEN JUST QUIT HRT BECAUSE OF A SHORTAGE
Almost half of women on hormone replacement therapy say they can't reliably fill their estrogen patch prescriptions, and one in ten have stopped treatment entirely, per an 8,000-woman Midi Health (informal) survey across 49 states. Patches have been short since January. Midi's CMO and a group of patients met with the FDA on Wednesday to push for action and pointed at the manufacturers, not demand, as the cause: Bayer stopped producing patches in 2023, and Sandoz says the patches are unusually complex to make.
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MEET THE COURT THAT KEEPS GETTING REVERSED
The appeals court that gutted telehealth access to mifepristone last week is the most-reversed appeals court in the country, with the Supreme Court overturning 10 of 13 of its decisions last term. Trump appointee Judge Kyle Duncan wrote the opinion, arguing Louisiana has standing to sue because it once paid Medicaid for two abortion-pill complications. Legal observers note that's an even thinner claim than the doctors' standing argument SCOTUS unanimously rejected in 2024.
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MAMMOGRAM AI WORKS. INSURANCE DOESN'T COVER IT.
AI tools that read mammograms can flag breast cancer risk years before doctors notice it. A UMass Memorial pilot using MIT's Mirai algorithm caught six already-existing cancers in 145 high-risk women on its own. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network added AI risk assessment to its 2026 screening guidelines, but most insurance plans don't cover the follow-up MRIs (around $1,400) or out-of-pocket scans (around $200), leaving the technology mostly in well-resourced hospitals.
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PCOS HAS ONE LATE BENEFIT
In a Finnish birth-cohort study of women at age 46, just 3.1% of those with polycystic ovary syndrome had reached late perimenopause or menopause, compared with 18.4% of women without PCOS. The PCOS group also reported fewer hot flashes and less disrupted sleep. Researchers think prolonged exposure to natural estrogens may explain the gap and may carry some long-term health benefits for a condition more often discussed in terms of its costs.