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Of the many problems facing modern medicine, the deterioration of the patient-doctor relationship is one of the most pernicious. Today our health-care system is losing its humanity amid increasingly automated and computer-driven interactions between doctors and patients. (Caleb Gardner and John Levinson, 9/21)

After six years of pitched political battle, it has become conventional wisdom that Republicans are responsible for the Affordable Care Act’s unraveling. In part, this is true. Specifically, the refusal of red states to enter the Medicaid expansion and the defunding of the “risk corridors” have limited the law’s success. However, many of Obamacare’s deepest wounds have been self-inflicted. Out of desperation to ensure as many people as possible signed up for health insurance, the Obama administration has arbitrarily suspended onerous mandates, modified coverage requirements and extended enrollment periods. These illegal, ad hoc changes to the ACA — which I’ve referred to as “government by blog post” — have unintentionally, but foreseeably, weakened the exchanges during the pivotal first three years. (Josh Blackman, 9/21)

In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Zubik v. Burwell, the Supreme Court has now twice opined on the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate and its accommodation. However, this term is a misnomer. Congress did not vote on a contraceptive mandate, nor did it create a series of exemptions and accommodations for religious employers. Hobby Lobby and Zubik were both premised on executive actions taken by the Obama administration in light of legislative silence. (Josh Blackman, 9/21)

A congressional hearing on Wednesday about the outlandish price increases of the EpiPen followed a pattern that has become all too familiar in recent years. A drug price soars for no reason; lawmakers call a hearing to scold a pharmaceutical executive; the executive pleads innocence and provides as little information as possible. The drama plays out with no effect on the price. (9/21)

Federally qualified health centers are entities that rely on federal money to provide care to low-income Americans, including the indigent. They cannot turn patients away for emergency care. It therefore made no sense that Texas could deny payment for such care in a case in Houston, doing so via a third-party, private managed care organization the state had delegated to reimburse the clinic. (9/21)

As we approach the election this fall, it seems like the news media report on little else. Unfortunately, too little news coverage addresses health care reform. This is ill-advised because there is still much to be done to improve the cost, quality, and access for patients within the US health care system. In this post, I will attempt to cover most of the major issues related to health care coverage that US consumers face. (Aaron, Carroll, 9/21)

A new rule decreed by the Baker administration essentially imposes a 40-hour per week limit on personal care attendants, or PCAs, who assist the elderly and people with disabilities. While there’s a transition period and some exemptions, the new policy means most workers — who currently earn $14.12 an hour — won’t be able to earn overtime. And that means the most frail and severely disabled people under their care must scramble to find multiple attendants to get through a 24-hour day. (Joan Vennochi, 9/21)

Promise me he won’t die here,” my patient’s daughter begged me. In her eyes was a fear born of familiarity: She’d seen too many of her family and neighbors die in a hospital. Just last year, her mother was admitted to the intensive care unit and never left. Now her 70-year-old father, whom I’ll call Ray, was in the same place, lying in a bed with his eyes unfocused and his speech confused. Ray would die here, and I could do nothing to stop that from happening. His life was never mine to save. It had been lost much earlier to the destructive grind of the impoverished, embattled neighborhood where he lived. Ray lived in East Harlem, N.Y., for a half-century. (Prabhjot Singh, 9/21)

The insecticide, Naled, which was sprayed over an area of Miami-Dade County twice last week and is due to be sprayed again this weekend in an effort to stop the spread of the Zika virus, is a potent neurotoxin that kills adult mosquitoes on contact. The protesters who disagree with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local governments’ assurances that it is safe, are justified in their concerns — ask the European Union, which banned the use of this organophosphate in 2012; the beekeeper in South Carolina who recently lost more than 2 million bees after aerial spraying of Naled; or the governor of Puerto Rico who, despite an escalating outbreak of Zika, refused to use it and sent supplies back to the mainland. He was right to err on the side of caution. (Claudia Miller, 9/21)

For 21 straight days now, Dr. Eddie Phillips and I have faithfully refrained from using the word "should." That was our promise at the start of WBUR's 21-day exercise podcast, "The Magic Pill." We would never tell you that you "should" exercise. We would only share what you can do, and why you might want to do it. But a "should" is now exploding from my typing fingers, and it is this: If you're running to be the president of the United States, I'm sorry but you really should exercise, and you should be open and vocal about your commitment to being physically active. (Carol Goldberg, 9/21)

I have twice been diagnosed with Clostridium difficile, known as C. diff, a germ that can cause infectious diarrhea. It strikes a half-million Americans every year. Most people get the disease through taking antibiotics. That’s how I got it, and it was a miserable experience. (Andy Miller, 9/21)