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The threat of Covid-19 may have subsided, but myriad public-health challenges have emerged in its wake. So far, none poses as serious a risk. Yet the US public-health system is woefully underprepared for another pandemic. (7/5)

Texas was among the first states to pass a heartbeat bill, prohibiting abortions as early as five weeks’ gestation, the time when the electrical impulses that we associate with heart formation begin. We found that, in Texas, infant mortality—including deaths in the first year of life—increased by 13 percent between 2021 and 2022 following the passage of this bill, while infant mortality increased by only 2 percent in all other U.S. states. (Alison Gemmill and Suzanne O. Bell, 7/3)

What if a preposterous failed treatment for Covid-19 — the arthritis drug hydroxychloroquine — could successfully treat another dreaded disease, Alzheimer’s? (Charles Piller, 7/7)

Nearly 5 million Texans lack health insurance — more than 16% of the total population. While this is lower than in recent years, it remains the largest of any state. (Charles Miller, 7/8)

For years, the price of an operation at my hospital has been radically different depending on the floor where it’s performed. Why? One spot was designated a hospital space; the other a non-hospital space. Patients were sometimes ushered to the location that generated the biggest profit based on their insurance type. (Marty Makary, 7/8)