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Stress, I've long suspected, may explain why lifespans have been lengthening for high-income Americans but have remained the same or even shortened for low-income and middle-income people. A new analysis from the Hamilton Project released today adds important evidence: Biomarkers of stress have risen much more rapidly for low-income people than for high-income ones. (Peter R. Orszag, 12/12)

Billions of dollars are spent every year on medications that reduce the risk of heart disease — the No. 1 killer in the United States. But some people feel powerless to prevent it: Many of the risk factors seem baked into the cake at birth. Genetic factors can have a huge impact on people’s chances of dying of heart disease, and it has long been thought that those factors are almost always outside of one’s control. Recent research contradicts this, though, and that should give us all renewed hope. (Aaron E. Carroll, 12/12)

Given the limited number of donor livers, in 2000 Congress established what’s called “the Final Rule” to guide the medical community in how to allocate them fairly. The Final Rule compels the transplant community to allocate donor organs based on best medical judgment, best use of the organs and avoidance of futile transplants. It also notes that a patient’s chance of getting a transplant should not be affected by where he or she lives. Balancing these various guidelines has always been tricky. But what has emerged — and is now the point of contention — is a marked geographic disparity in how sick a patient must be before rising to the top of a transplant list. For example, waiting lists at California transplant centers are significantly longer (and therefore patients in California get a lot sicker before possibly receiving transplants) compared with waiting lists in Oregon. That’s unfair to the Californians who need liver transplants, right? (Willscott E. Naugler, 12/13)

People with hearing loss usually pay out of pocket for hearing aids, and those pockets must be deep indeed. The average cost for a hearing aid is $2,300, and most people need two. They don’t last forever, and if your condition is progressive you may need to replace them as often as every four or five years. No matter what your income level, hearing aids for adults are not covered by health insurance. They are not covered by Medicare, and they are not covered by state Medicaid programs. The Affordable Care Act does not cover hearing aids. Some private insurers are beginning to pay, but it’s usually only a fraction of the whole. The V.A. and some state vocational bureaus do provide hearing aids. But essentially, you’re on your own. (Katherine Bouton, 12/12)

This kind of branding – one that lasts a lifetime – is what 21st-century puritans, also known as the pro-life movement, want to achieve. Theirs is a campaign for a nationwide ban on abortions, but it includes shaming of women who underwent the act. They want to burn a permanent mark on these women's conscience so they’ll never forget their “sin.” That’s the motive behind new rules in Texas requiring health-care facilities that perform abortions to bury the fetal remains instead of disposing of them. Beginning on Dec. 19, the burials must be done regardless of how long the fetal tissue has been gestating, according to The New York Times. (Elvia Diaz, 12/12)

More Americans died from heroin than gun homicides in 2015, according to data released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of opioid-related deaths surpassed 30,000 for the first time in recent history. “Prescription opioid misuse and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are intertwined and deeply troubling problems,” said CDC director Tom Frieden. Meanwhile a different story emerged in Iowa. (12/12)

To put the election results into perspective, the percentage of Americans now living in an area where recreational marijuana is legal, or will soon be, rose from 5 percent to 20 percent. Given the accelerated acceptance for the use of cannabis, it’s worth considering the consequences of these new laws. There has been plenty of hand-wringing about how these new laws might harm society, but I believe they have the potential to help in a range of societal issues. (Thomas Strouse, 12/12)

Last month, Florida voters passed Amendment 2 — a landmark change to the state Constitution that allows individuals, including children, to use marijuana for medical purposes. ... Now that the Florida Legislature is expected to discuss legislation to implement Amendment 2, it is incumbent upon state policy makers to consider the ways in which we can safeguard students in our schools. Miami-Dade County Public Schools is committed to advocating for students’ health and safety in light of the passage of Amendment 2. (Alberto M. Carvalho and Martin Karp, 12/12)

Wisconsin’s Group Insurance Board is proposing to limit competition in an effort to self-fund its State Group Health Program. This proposal is the exact opposite of the Wisconsin Act 10 legislation that opened up competition for school districts and their health insurance providers. Since Act 10 passed in 2011, the added competition has resulted in our school districts saving millions of dollars in health care insurance costs. (Cliff King, 12/12)

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — also known as the DSM and sometimes erroneously called the bible of psychiatry — is the authoritative guide to diagnosing depression, schizophrenia, and over a hundred other mental disorders. The latest version, published in 2013, was 19 years in the making. A new revision process put in place by the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM’s publisher, aims to make it easier for the manual to reflect changes in psychiatry. (Michael First, 12/12)