Harris Proposes Expanding Medicare to Cover In-Home Senior Care

Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing to provide federal funding to cover home care costs for older Americans, aiming to help the “ sandwich generation ” of adults caring for aging parents while raising their children at the same time. Appearing Tuesday on ABC’s “The View,” Harris talked about taking care of her mother when she was dying and personally experiencing the challenges many families face when seeking affordable in-home care for their aging loved ones. AP.

Study Shows Texas’ Abortion Ban Is Straining The OB/GYN Pool

Texas’ new abortion laws are stressing the state’s already beleaguered OB/GYN workforce, and threatening the pipeline of new doctors that would help provide relief, a new survey shows. More than 70% of practicing OB/GYNs in Texas feel the near-total ban has negatively impacted their work, prohibiting them from providing high quality, evidence-based care for their patients, according to survey results released Tuesday. TexasTribune.

Democrats Hope the Latest Court Rulings Restricting Abortion Energize Voters as Election Nears

Two court rulings this week have delivered major blows to reproductive rights in Texas and Georgia but, during a crucial time in the election cycle, Democrats are seizing on them in an attempt to energize voters who support abortion access. Advocates hope the rulings will serve as reminders about what’s at stake in a post-Roe America just weeks before a presidential election that has been partly defined by competing visions of abortion rights and the sometimes harrowing consequences for women living in states with abortion bans. AP.

Medicare Pilot Aims for $2 Generic Drugs

The Biden administration on Wednesday will release a preliminary list of generic drugs that would be made available to Medicare recipients under a pilot program for no more than $2 out of pocket. The initiative — which covers common drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions — aims to test whether offering low-cost generics can boost seniors’ medication adherence and health outcomes, while giving them more certainty on out-of-pocket costs. Axios.

Covid May Increase the Risk of Heart Attacks, Strokes, and Deaths for Three Years after an Infection, a New Study Suggests

Covid-19 could be a powerful risk factor for heart attacks and strokes for as long as three years after an infection, a large new study suggests. The study was published Wednesday in the medical journal Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. It relied on medical records from roughly a quarter of a million people who were enrolled in a large database called the UK Biobank. CNN.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to 3 Scientists for Work on Proteins, Building Blocks of Life

The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to three scientists for their breakthrough work predicting and even designing the structure of proteins, the building blocks of life. The prize was awarded to David Baker, who works at the University of Washington in Seattle, and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who both work at Google DeepMind, a British-American artificial intelligence research laboratory based in London. AP.