Category: Health

(NEW YORK) — Nearly 90,000 bottles of children’s ibuprofen are being voluntarily recalled due to the potential presence of a foreign substance.

According to a notice from the Food and Drug Administration, Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc. received complaints from customers who reported “a gel-like mass and black particles” in the drug products.

Four-ounce (120 ml) bottles of Children’s Ibuprofen Oral Suspension are impacted by the recall. The FDA said the children’s medications, intended for pain relief from the common cold, flu, sore throat, headache and toothache and a fever reducer, were manufactured in India for Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., Inc.

Recalled children’s ibuprofen products have lot codes of: 7261973A and 7261974A and bear an expiration date of 01/31/2027, according to the federal agency.

The FDA is classifying the recall as a Class II, which the agency defines as anything where the “use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”

ABC News has reached out to Taro Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Sun Pharma for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — When Jessica Chamberlain went to sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) for 2026, she not prepared for the sticker shock.

Last year, Chamberlain was paying $59.67 in monthly premiums. This year, she would be paying nearly $100.

The 43-year-old mother of two from Illinois said she was floored to see her monthly premiums were nearly doubling.

“I can’t afford that as a single mom with two kids,” she told ABC News.

After carefully weighing her options, Chamberlain decide to forego health insurance and is currently uninsured.

“What do I sacrifice [to pay for health insurance]? I’m diabetic,” she said. “What do I have to sacrifice to keep my medications and my health afloat?

Chamberlain is not alone. Nearly one in 10 people enrolled in the ACA Marketplace last year dropped their coverage in 2026, according to a new KFF survey published Thursday.

The findings come amid rising health care costs and the end of the enhanced premium tax credits. The tax credits helped lower the cost of monthly premiums for about 22 million Americans covered under the ACA and expired at the end of 2025, with no plans by Congress to extend them.

The survey built upon a previous KFF poll conducted in 2025 among Marketplace enrollees. Surveyors re-interviewed more than 1,100 adults between Feb. 2 and March 2, 2026.

Of the respondents, 69% said they re-enrolled in Marketplace coverage with 39% selecting the same plan and 29% switching plans.

More than half, or 51%, of returning ACA enrollees said their health care costs are “a lot higher” this year compared to last year. Of this group, four in 10 specifically said their premiums are “a lot higher.” Additionally, 80% said all health care costs — including premiums, deductibles, co-pays or coinsurance — are higher.

Meanwhile, 9% of Marketplace enrollees dropped their ACA coverage and are currently uninsured.

When asked why they decided to drop or change their coverage, most respondents said costs were the driving factor.

One of the respondents, Holly Weir, a 26-year-old from Ohio, told ABC News she was paying $30 in monthly premiums last year under a plan run by UnitedHealthcare. This year, her plan went to $177 in monthly premiums.

“I didn’t do anything to pick a new health care plan. I got the bill in the mail and I was like, ‘[Expletive]!'” Weir said. “I didn’t pay too much attention until I got the bill the next month and I was like ‘Oh my God, this isn’t from me going to see a medical provider.'”

Weir decided to cancel her insurance and has applied for Medicaid coverage. She is currently waiting to see if she will be approved.

Weir said she is a thyroid cancer survivor, and she has to see an oncologist every two months or so, in addition to taking regular medication.

“Once that runs out, I’ll get a lot more scared,” she said. “Of course, I’m not going to be stupid and leave it so long. If it does come to it, I’ll pay [for the insurance]. The idea that I would have to spend that each month is frustrating. I’m already not doing amazingly financially.”

The survey found that even those who re-enrolled in the ACA Marketplace may need to rework their household budgets.

More than half, or 55%, said they need to cut spending on food or other basic household expenses to afford their health care costs.

Among those with chronic health conditions, 62% of those who reenrolled in the ACA Marketplace said they will be cutting back on food and other basics.

The survey found that 22% of respondents did not re-enroll in the ACA Marketplace and got coverage through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid or another health plan outside the Marketplace.

Chamberlain, who also responded to the survey, said her kids qualify to be on state-run Medicaid. However, she said she doesn’t qualify because she makes too much in her current role working in probation.

She is hoping she can find another insurance plan to help cover health care costs.

“This is destroying people who have pre-existing conditions,” she said. “It is affecting people, especially single moms. We’re just trying to live.”

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(MASSACHUSETTS) — A Massachusetts judge ruled on Monday in favor of medical organizations in their litigation against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his changes to federal vaccine policy.

The judge temporarily blocked changes to the childhood vaccine schedule that were made at the beginning of this year, in which Kennedy reduced the number of recommended shots from 17 to 11. 

The judge also suspended the appointments of the 13 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee, who were all appointed unilaterally by Kennedy after he fired all the preceding members. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — As many as 724,000 service members, their families and veterans may rely on health care at hospitals that face financial vulnerability, partly due to cuts in President Donald Trump’s megabill, according to a new analysis.

The bill, known as HR.1, was signed into law in last summer and included sweeping changes to health care including Medicaid. Strict work requirements, reduced federal funding and tightening provider tax rules impacts hospitals that are dependent on Medicaid, increasing their risk of uncompensated care and reducing revenue.

Service members and their families — many of whom are covered by the military health insurance program TRICARE — rely heavily on civilian hospitals for health care, particularly in areas without military treatment facilities.

The analysis, conducted by researchers the Healthcare Quality and Outcomes Lab at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) and first viewed by ABC News, looked at how many TRICARE beneficiaries may be reliant on hospitals considered at risk of financial distress under these new changes.

The researchers said many hospitals rely so heavily on Medicaid reimbursements that cuts to the program under HR.1 will affect care the hospitals provide to other patients, including those in the military community.

“We wanted to get a sense of how many hospitals are potentially at risk for becoming potentially financially unstable with the upcoming looming HR.1 Medicaid cuts,” Dr. Jose Figueroa, co-author of the analysis and associate professor of Health Policy and Management at HPSH told ABC News. “There’s a big focus on rural hospitals, but it is not just rural hospitals at risk, that we were finding that across the country, many urban hospitals are at risk.”

Figueroa said medical services that many TRICARE beneficiaries need are often only offered in civilian hospitals or in civilian health care systems. These beneficiaries are then exposed to hospitals that are potentially at financial risk, he noted.

“Military active duty service members on TRICARE and their families also on TRICARE are increasingly relying on civilian hospitals for their care, even when they’re living within a military base,” Figueroa said. “If we’re finding evidence that there are many hospitals across the country that are at risk, to what extent will that affect military personnel and their families?”

TRICARE is run by the U.S. Department of Defense for those connected to the military, including active duty members, National Guard and reserve members, military retirees and their families. It is not the same as Medicaid, although some may qualify for both.

For their analysis, the team used three different criteria to identify a hospital that might be at risk.

If more than one in four of patients being treated at the hospital are on Medicaid, given that the HR.1. cuts are disproportionally affecting those on the federal health insurance program.
If the hospital is a safety net hospital, which serves a large number of patients with no insurance or with Medicaid, or a critical access hospital, which is a rural facility that provides essential health care services to underserved communities.
The Altman Z-score, which is an aggregate measure of the financial health of a hospital, combining liquidity, profitability, financial efficiency and solvency measures to categorize a hospital as being at risk for bankruptcy.
About 4% of hospitals were considered at higher risk of financial distress — meeting three of the criteria and about 19% were at moderate risk of financial distress — meeting two — according to the analysis.

The team then used a dataset to help to identify 8.9 million TRICARE beneficiaries and their ZIP codes.

The analysis estimated that more than 117,000 TRICARE beneficiaries are currently living on or near military installations potentially exposed to a hospital at higher risk of financial distress. Additionally, more than 607,000 are living near a hospital with a moderate risk of financial distress.

This means that more than 724,000 TRICARE beneficiaries are living in military installation ZIP codes — including bases, camps, posts, depots and stations — where at least one hospital has multiple risk factors for financial distress.

Additionally, more than 3.5 million TRICARE beneficiaries living in ZIP codes without a military installation are potentially exposed to a higher-risk or moderate-risk hospital, the analysis found.

“As a country, we should do our best to take care of the people protecting us,” Figueroa said. “Military personnel and their family members should be protected, and sometimes we have to remind ourselves that drastic cuts to our health care that affect our health delivery system also affects our active military personnel and their families as well.”

Last month, during a Senate hearing, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force David Wolfe said troops were struggling to get health care appointments and made reference to issues with TRICARE’s reimbursement rate for providers.

“What we’ve all seen over the length of our careers is a gradual erosion in the availability of that health care for our service members and their families,” Wolfe said, according to the Military Times.

Based on the results of the Harvard analysis, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D- Mass., is launching an investigation into how the Pentagon is guiding military families through health care cuts and whether Republicans and the Trump administration consulted the Pentagon before the cuts were made, her office told ABC News first.

Warren is also pressing the Pentagon to explain how these cuts are affecting military readiness.

“Donald Trump is putting troops’ lives on the line in the Middle East while ripping away health care from their families at home,” Warren said in a statement to ABC News. “Republicans swore the Medicaid cuts in their Big Beautiful Bill were about cutting waste, fraud, and abuse — is that what they think of our military families’ health care?”

In a statement sent to ABC News, the Pentagon didn’t address Warren’s comments.

“As with all congressional correspondences, the Department will respond directly to the authors as appropriate,” a spokesperson said.

A Pentagon official also said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment on the methodology of studies not conducted by the department.

The White House didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(NEW YORK) — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon signed a bill into law on Monday banning abortion in the state after a “fetal heartbeat” has been detected.

HB 126, or the Human Heartbeat Act, prohibits abortion once cardiac activity is identified, which is around six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they’re pregnant.

If cardiac activity is detected, an abortion can only be performed in the case of a medical emergency, meaning if the life of the mother is in danger or if continuing the pregnancy would cause serious or irreversible impairment of a major bodily function, according to the bill.

The bill does not include exceptions for pregnancies as a result of rape or incest.

Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the act will be charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, according to the bill.

“Today I signed the Human Heartbeat Act into law, reaffirming my view that life is sacred. I resoundingly share the determination to defend the lives of unborn children and support the intentions behind the Human Heartbeat Act,” Gordon wrote in a post on X on Monday.

Previously, abortion was allowed in Wyoming until fetal viability, which occurs between 24 and 26 weeks of gestation.

Wyoming is now the fifth state at least to have a “heartbeat ban” following bans enacted in Florida, Georgia, Iowa and South Carolina.

“This ban is an attack on Wyomingites’ constitutional freedom to make their own health care decisions, and it puts the health and well-being of our communities at risk,” Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, Wyoming’s only abortion clinic, said in a statement.

“Every day that this law is in effect means people in our state will face even greater barriers to abortion care — and some may be denied this care altogether,” the statement continued. “With so many across Wyoming already struggling to access reproductive health care, restrictive policies like these take us further in the wrong direction.”

Burkhart said Wellspring Health Access is prepared to challenge the ban in court and will continue to work with regional and national partners to help patients access the care they need.

Gordon wrote in the post on X that he was concerned the bill was “well-intentioned” but would lead to a “fragile legal effort with significant risk of ending in the courts rather than in lasting, durable policy.”

Gordon suggested that voters should decide on the issue and that a question be placed on a ballot asking if an abortion ban should be cemented in the state constitution.

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(NEW YORK) — Acetaminophen orders in emergency rooms for pregnant patients fell in the weeks after a White House briefing last year linked its use during pregnancy to an increased risk of autism, a new analysis finds.

Researchers at Harvard and Brown University looked at data from an electronic health records system with more than 294 million patient records from more than 1,600 hospitals and 37,000 clinics across the United States.

They found that orders for acetaminophen, also known by the brand name Tylenol, fell 10% between the briefing on Sept. 22, 2025 and Dec. 7, 2025, according to the analysis, published on Thursday in The Lancet. 

The drop in acetaminophen fell 16% in the first month after the White House news conference and reached a low of 20% in the third week after the announcement, according to the analysis. Over subsequent weeks, prescriptions appeared to trend back to baseline by early December. 

This analysis did not track over-the-counter use of acetaminophen sales, which is the most common way people purchase the medication. 

Meanwhile, as acetaminophen orders fell, new outpatient prescriptions for a drug called leucovorin increased sharply for children between ages 5 and 17, the analysis found.

Leucovorin is a form of folic acid used to reduce side effects from some chemotherapy drugs and treat folate deficiency.

Researchers have also studied it as a possible treatment for some children with autism who have cerebral folate deficiency, but it’s unclear if it has a role in treating children with autism more broadly, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

At the same September White House briefing, the Trump administration announced it was starting the approval process for leucovorin as a possible treatment for autism.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. touted the drug as an “exciting therapy that may benefit large numbers of children who suffer from autism.”

The analysis found a 93% rise in leucovorin prescriptions in the first month after the briefing and a 113% spike in week two, meaning prescriptions more than doubled compared with expected levels. Overall, the analysis found that leucovorin prescriptions increased by about 71% from mid-September to early December. 

“It is unknown whether the results reported reflect changes in patient demand or clinician decision making; nonetheless, they show the apparent power that public authority figures have to drive sudden changes in health care practices,” the researchers wrote.

Many health professionals and major medical organizations criticized the Trump administration’s assertion that pregnant women should avoid acetaminophen, claiming use during pregnancy may be linked to autism.

Studies on a potential link have not shown a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Some studies point to a possible association, but those associations often weaken or disappear once researchers adjust for other factors. 

In January, a large meta-analysis of about 60 studies was published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women’s Health, finding no link to developmental disorders in children when expectant mothers used acetaminophen as directed.

In response to statements made by the White House, The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) strongly rejected the claim that acetaminophen in pregnancy causes autism, calling it “highly concerning,” “irresponsible” and “not backed by the full body of scientific evidence.”

The group emphasized that more than 20 years of research show no direct link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or intellectual disability, specifically pointing to two high-quality studies.

Acetaminophen is regarded as one of the safest non-opioid pain medication for pregnant women, according to ACOG. The group adds it’s an important drug to help treat fever in pregnancy that can have negative health impacts for both mom and baby if left untreated.

“The White House briefing was an extremely unusual mechanism to communicate medical information and bypassed many standard checks on ensuring accurate messaging,” Dr. Michael Barnett, a physician and professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown and one of the researchers, said in a press release. 

“The results show just how much political leaders can steer health behavior even when there has been no change in the evidence for these therapies,” Barnett said. 

In a statement, Kenvue Brands LLC, the maker of Tylenol, said it was “deeply concerned” about “unfounded claims” over its product.

“It is scientifically known that untreated high fevers pose potential serious risks to a pregnancy, such as miscarriage, pre-term labor and birth, and fetal malformations.” the statement read, in part. ‘As medical organizations have recognized, acetaminophen is the safest option for pain and fever relief for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy.”

Kenvue Brands added that there are multiple potential consequences as a result of pregnant women using acetaminophen less frequently, including higher rates of untreated fevers and use of medications that are less safe to use during pregnancy,

“Recent additional evidence has identified no increased rates of autism disorders, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or intellectual disability among the offspring of those who used paracetamol during pregnancy,” the company stated.

Jade A. Cobern, MD, MPH, is a practicing physician, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, and is a fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit. 

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(NEW YORK) — As the U.S.-Israeli military escalation with Iran continues, children may be experiencing devastating consequences of being caught in a conflict zone. Dozens of children and adolescents have been killed, many of whom were attending school at the time, according to the Iranian education ministry.

Doctors and humanitarian aid workers told ABC News that millions of children in the region are at risk of physical and mental health repercussions.

They add that it’s important children have as much structure as possible to keep a sense of stability in their lives.

“Every war is a war on children,” Ahmad Alhendawi, regional director for the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe at Save the Children, told ABC News. “They are not the reason why the war started, but they are the ones who pay the highest prices. Their childhood simply gets disrupted.”

Mental health effects

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, president and co-founder of the humanitarian organization MedGlobal, told ABC News that the mental and emotional toll on children in conflict zones is a “huge problem.”

“Children are some of the most vulnerable sectors of the community because they need to feel that they are supported, they need it to feel that there is safety and shelter and supporting communities and they need normalcy,” he said.

Sahloul said that when children are caught in conflict zones, a sense of stability and routine is essential.

This includes going to school consistently, having playgrounds available so they can play, regular family meals and a place to sleep at night.

When any of these are disrupted, it can affect children’s mental health, causing anxiety, hyperactivity, withdrawal or feelings of sadness, according to Sahloul.

He added, “The trauma that [children] incur from violence and from what they see on TV, and of course the direct witnessing of bombs and missiles and its impact on their communities and neighbors and families, all of this will cause a lot of mental health trauma that manifests itself based on the age of the child.”

Studies of past conflicts have shown the effects of living in war-torn areas.

At least 10% of those who experience traumatic events in armed conflict will have serious mental health problems and another 10% “will develop behavior that will hinder their ability to function effectively,” according to the World Health Organization in a review of research findings.

Mental health impacts can be exacerbated when locales that are supposed to be safe spaces come under attack, Sahloul said.

Over the weekend, Shajare Tayyiba Elementary School, an all-girls elementary school in Minab located in southern Iran was hit by airstrikes, according to Iranian officials.

Iran has blamed the U.S. and Israel for the strike on the school, but Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have denied any connection. Top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have insisted the U.S. does not target civilian infrastructure.

“That adds, of course, to the trauma,” Sahloul said. “These are areas that should be considered safe and when people die in school or in a hospital or in the market, I think that adds to the trauma.”

Physical effects on children

There are physical risks for children that come with living in conflict zones, such as breathing in smoke and ash from fires and blasts that can affect the nose and lungs.

Children may also be seriously injured during air strikes, resulting in disability such as the loss of limb, sight or cognitive capacity.

“The physical impact on children is much more significant because there are fears for their development,” Alhendawi said.

Sahloul added that because children’s bodies are often smaller, shorter and thinner than those of adults, they are more likely to be hurt by projectiles such as bullets or shrapnel.

In children, severe bleeding can lead to shock, he said. Children are also more prone to amputation because of the smaller size of their limbs and they’re more prone to burns because their skin is thinner than adults’ skin.

Sahloul said that mental health trauma in children can have effects on their physical health. Research has shown a significant association between physical health problems and clinical mental health symptoms.

“So [mental health symptoms] can lead to depressed immunity to fight infection,” he said. “It can lead to malnutrition. It can lead to stunted growth.”

Health experts noted adults may also experience similar physical and mental health effects in conflict zones and may benefit from similar interventions.

How to help

Experts told ABC News it’s important to make sure that children are provided structure as much as possible while living in war zones to help with their development and well-being. Additionally, when possible, they said it important to create child-friendly spaces that allow children to learn, play and receive psychosocial support.

Alhendawi said Save the Children is not currently operating in Iran but is stationed in nine surrounding countries and is prepared to provide full shelter and basic services for a population that may be displaced.

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(NEW YORK) — Maternal mortality rates in the United States have dropped to their lowest levels in recent years, according to new data published on Thursday.

The report, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, compared maternal deaths in 2023 and 2024, with maternal deaths defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within 42 days of pregnancy termination.

In 2024, 649 women died of maternal causes in the U.S., with a rate of 17.9 deaths per 100,000 births, according to the report.

By comparison, 669 women died in 2023 with a rate of 18.6 deaths per 100,000 births, the report found.

This is also the lowest rate seen since 2018, which had a maternal mortality rate of 17.4 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Data showed significant racial/ethnic disparities. Black women had the highest mortality rate at 44.8 deaths per 100,000 live births.

This was three times higher than the mortality rate for white women of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 live births. Hispanic and Asian women also had lower rates of 12.1 deaths per 100,000 and 18.1 deaths per 100,000, respectively.

Research has shown that Black women are more likely to have pre-existing cardiovascular disease and are more likely to experience adverse pregnancy outcomes, both of which increase the risk of maternal mortality.

Between 2023 and 2024, rates for Black, white and Hispanic women declined while the rate for Asian women rose, but neither the decreases nor the increase was “significant,” according to the report.

There were also disparities by age. Women aged 40 and older had the highest maternal mortality rate of 62.3 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2024.

This was 4.5 times higher than the mortality rate for women younger than age 25, which sat at 13.7 per 100,000 and 3.7 times higher than the rate for women between ages 25 and 39, sitting at 16.5 per 100,000. The report describes the differences in the women aged 40 and older group with the younger groups as “significant.”

More than 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, according to the CDC. The report did not examine why the maternal mortality rate declined, but the CDC has taken steps to support efforts to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.

Among these are Hear Her, which is a national campaign that shares messages about signs and symptoms during and after pregnancy that warrant seeking urgent medical care.

Additionally, the CDC conducts national surveillance through the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, which is used to better understand the risk factors for and causes of pregnancy-related deaths in the U.S.

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