Yuki Noguchi is a correspondent on the Science Desk based out of NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C. She started covering consumer health in the midst of the pandemic, reporting on everything from vaccination and racial inequities in access to health, to cancer care, obesity and mental health.
Like many Americans, Scott Adams had insurance problems. But unlike most people he has powerful friends on social media, and when he asked President Trump for help, he got the cancer drug he needed.
The Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index shows that GLP-1 weight loss drugs are having an effect: The U.S. obesity rate is at 37%, down from 39.9%.
Conspiracy theories about health fill a vacuum created by the lack of doctors in many rural communities. Meanwhile, doctors in these areas say patients have become increasingly distrustful and sometimes hostile.