Health
Video: Skyrocketing Health Insurance Forces Americans to Scramble for Care
“When I saw the termination notice come in, it was kind of nerve-wracking.” James Digilio is 62 years old. He couldn’t pay for his health insurance after costs skyrocketed. “I was paying, last year, $57-a-month premium. And then it jumped up this year to $1,690 a month. When I first saw it, I was surprised. I thought this was a mistake.” Millions of people like James saw their insurance premiums soar in January after the Senate deadlocked on competing proposals, leaving the expanded tax subsidies to expire. James relies on medication to manage his blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes. Since losing his insurance, he started rationing his medication. “I was concerned about the medications, not knowing how I was going to refill them. I figure if I could stretch it out and not take them for a week or so, then that’s another week I could tack on that I could still stretch it out to.” James works at a pizza restaurant, making $14 an hour washing dishes and delivering food — that brings in, on average, $1,200 a month plus tips. He says that the $1,690 health insurance payment would eat up all the income from his job. “It would have been very hard to manage to pay that much premium for health insurance.” He takes care of his sister, who is currently unemployed. In January, to cover their expenses, James took out his Social Security retirement benefits early. If he had paid for his new health insurance premium on top of the other expenses, that would have left him nearly $1,400 in debt at the end of each month. For years, Florida has been leading the nation in Affordable Care Act enrollment. One in five residents are enrolled in an A.C.A. plan, compared to one in 15 nationwide, and 98 percent of Florida’s enrollees relied on federal financial assistance to pay for a plan. Now, many are facing a future without health insurance. More than a million people nationwide have dropped their coverage since the A.C.A. subsidies expired. Today, with only a week and a half of medication left, James is visiting a free clinic nearby to see if they have the medications he needs. “OK, if you just take a seat and I’ll tell the nurse you’re here.” “Jimmy’s case is not unique. All of our new patients who had insurance and now do not have insurance have all seen tremendous increase in their monthly premiums to the point that they can’t afford them any longer.” Terri Belletto runs this volunteer-based clinic in Bunnell, a city in northeast Florida. It relies on private donations and grants for its funding. She says her clinic has seen a surge in patients over the past three months. “This is the largest increase in patients that we’ve seen in the 12 years that I’ve been here. If we’re not in crisis mode in health care in the United States, we’re almost there.” “So was it two months from now, you said?” For James, a measure of relief. Today, the clinic refilled over a month of medication for free. The clinic may have met his immediate health care needs, but what worries James is where to go for anything more serious and how he’d pay for it. “If I had affordable health care, my life would be easier. It would be more relaxed and I could not have to be stressed about the insurance and hopefully also medications.”
Health
Switching from cigarettes to vapes linked to higher risk of major eye diseases, large study finds
US cigarette smoking drops to record low, vaping and nicotine pouch use surges
Fox News medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel discusses a New England Journal of Medicine study reporting US adult cigarette smoking rates dropped to a record low of 9.9% in 2024. Siegel warns about the addictive nature of vaping and nicotine pouches, which contain high levels of nicotine. He expresses concern over potential GI tract and heart issues, stressing social media’s role in promoting these products to younger generations.
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Switching from cigarettes to electronic vapes is often seen as a healthier move, but a massive nationwide study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology suggests that smokeless alternatives could increase the risk of serious eye diseases compared to quitting nicotine altogether.
Researchers from the Korea University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea, analyzed health data from a group of 179,273 adults through the Korean National Health Insurance Service, according to a press release.
All participants had smoked traditional cigarettes between 2011 and 2012 and then quit smoking by 2018 or 2019, they reported.
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To ensure a fair comparison, the researchers paired up participants who shared similar backgrounds, including their age, gender, medical history, existing health conditions and general lifestyle habits.
Switching from cigarettes to electronic vapes is often seen as a healthier move, but a large study suggests it could pose a risk to eye health. (iStock)
This process created a balanced group of 32,316 matched participants, who were divided into two categories: complete quitters who stopped using all nicotine products and those who transitioned to smokeless nicotine products, such as vapes.
The researchers followed the participants for an average of 4.6 years to determine whether they developed eye conditions, including cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and focus-related eyesight disorders.
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Over the tracking period, the group experienced a total of 6,328 major eye disease events. People who quit nicotine entirely had the lowest disease rate in the study, at 41.1 cases per 1,000 person-years (a measure that accounts for both the number of people in the study and how long they were followed).
In comparison, that rate rose to 44 cases for individuals who had switched over to smokeless alternatives like vapes.
The people included in the study were divided into two main categories: complete quitters who stopped using all nicotine products, and switchers who transitioned to smokeless tobacco or nicotine products, like vapes. (iStock)
Ultimately, the data showed that switching to alternative nicotine products carried a steady 7% increased risk of serious eye diseases compared to quitting nicotine completely.
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Most notably, those who switched faced a 24% higher risk of developing diabetic retinopathy, a condition that damages the blood vessels in the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye.
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Additionally, those who ditched cigarettes for vapes had a 7% higher risk of developing refractive and accommodation disorders, which affect the eye’s ability to focus clearly.
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“These findings challenge the assumption that substituting noncombustible nicotine or tobacco products for conventional cigarettes is visually harmless,” the researchers noted.
“These findings challenge the assumption that substituting noncombustible nicotine or tobacco products for conventional cigarettes is visually harmless,” the researchers noted. (iStock)
The authors did point out a few limitations of the research. Because this was a study looking back at health insurance data, it cannot definitively prove that vaping directly causes eye damage.
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Additionally, the study relied on people filling out questionnaires about their own smoking and vaping habits, which can sometimes lead to underreporting or simple memory errors.
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Still, the researchers concluded the findings suggest that replacing cigarettes with alternative nicotine products may not eliminate the risk of certain eye diseases.
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The latest COVID-19 vaccine (2024-2025) has been linked to fewer serious heart-related events among U.S. veterans.
New research confirmed a small reduction in COVID-related cardiovascular events, or COVID-19-associated MACE, due to the vaccine.
MACE (major adverse cardiovascular events) is a composite measure of serious heart-related outcomes. It typically includes cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke, and may also include hospitalization for heart failure.
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Using health records from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the researchers compared two groups of veterans — one that received the COVID and flu vaccine on the same day (nearly 350,000 people) and another group that received only the flu vaccine (nearly 700,000 people).
For people older than 75, vaccine effectiveness against COVID-associated MACE was 50.7%. (iStock)
Out of more than one million veterans studied, the average age was about 70 and 92% were male, according to a press release.
Within about eight months, the results showed that those who received the 2024-2025 COVID vaccine had a lower risk of COVID-associated major cardiovascular events, with a relative vaccine effectiveness of 37.7%.
The COVID vaccine was linked to a 57.9% lower risk of cardiovascular death, 38.5% lower risk of heart attack and 41.9% lower risk of hospitalization for heart failure, the researchers stated. The result for stroke was not statistically significant.
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The benefit was greatest among adults ages 75 and older and those with underlying health conditions. In people over 75, the vaccine was 50.7% effective at preventing COVID-associated MACE.
As the study was observational, it could not prove cause and effect between the COVID-19 vaccine and lower risk of cardiovascular events, but only highlighted an association.
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Dr. Glenn Hirsch, cardiologist at National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, called these results “not overall surprising” in an interview with Fox News Digital.
After eight months, those who received the 2024-2025 COVID vaccine had a lower risk of COVID-associated major cardiovascular events. (iStock)
“This result is consistent with previous studies of the COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines against infectious diseases [in] preventing cardiovascular events, including heart attack, cardiovascular cause of death or hospitalizations,” he said.
Acute inflammation in the body from infections like COVID-19 increases the risk of cardiovascular events and can cause further complications, according to the doctor.
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“This can lead to a higher risk of blood clotting, but can also make arterial plaques susceptible to rupture, which then leads to clot formation to heal a ruptured plaque,” he said. “This clotting can cause a near-total or complete occlusion of an artery, leading to these cardiovascular events.”
“Vaccines either prevent infection or reduce the severity of infection and subsequent inflammation, lowering the cardiovascular risk.”
Acute inflammation in the body from infections like COVID-19 can increase the risk of cardiovascular events, the study suggests. (iStock)
Despite the positive outcome, the overall benefit of the vaccine in this study was less than in previous studies, according to Hirsch, who was not involved in the research.
This could be due to the lower severity of illness seen in more recent COVID-19 variants, as well as immunity from prior infections among unvaccinated people, he noted. There has also been a decline in COVID testing, making it more difficult to link cardiovascular events to the virus.
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“The bottom line [is] that there is still evidence of benefit from COVID-19 vaccination like many other infectious disease vaccinations, and people should be encouraged to discuss these with their healthcare team annually,” Hirsch advised.
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“This is an observational trial and there can always be some confounding after necessary statistical adjustments and other potential benefits or harms, including adverse effects from vaccines that were not investigated in this study,” he added.
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