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Each year, about 15,000 Americans die from hepatitis C, many in their 40s and 50s. Given the safe and effective cure available for the last nine years, the correct number of deaths in 2023 should be zero.Put simply, we are squandering one of the most important medical advances of the 21st century. It’s time to eliminate this threat to the health of Americans. (Francis Collins, 11/28)

The National Institute of Mental Health reported roughly 1 in 5 American adults live with a mental illness, and yet new therapies for some of the more severe diagnoses have largely been stagnant for several decades, until recently. Take schizophrenia for example—our health care system has been reliant on the same treatment options since the early 1950s. (Kyle Rasbach, 11/27)

Only about 1 in 4 cases of lung cancer are diagnosed in early stages. Why? A key reason is that the screening rate is abysmally low. According to a report last year from the American Lung Association, less than 6 percent of eligible Americans receive annual low-dose CT scans. In some states, the screening rates are as low as 1 percent. (Leana S. Wen, 11/28)

Over the past several years, it’s been hard to miss the famous faces from the 1960s and ’70s who are now in their 70s or 80s endorsing Medicare Advantage plans to America’s seniors. These celebrities—whether they are renowned former football player Joe Namath or actors known for their roles on prime-time TV (like Jimmy Walker and William Devane)—are promoting the additional benefits of MA health plans over traditional Medicare, all at no extra cost. Who wouldn’t be tempted by such an offer? (Chip Kahn, 11/28)

Menopause has really come into its own in 2023. From Microsoft Corp. to the National Basketball Association and British bank Standard Chartered Plc, companies are implementing policies and offering benefits to women managing the symptoms of the natural aging process. (Andreea Papuc, 11/27)

This was supposed to be the year for a new Farm Bill, the five-year legislation that funds farm subsidy programs, conservation efforts and food assistance for low-income Americans. Unsurprisingly, our dysfunctional Congress couldn’t get its act together for what is usually a bipartisan effort and chose to punt instead, extending by one year the 2018 Farm Bill that expired on Sept. 30. The extension means that agricultural landowners will get government money that otherwise would have dried up at year-end, and 40 million people will continue to receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (11/27)

To be sure, there was once a time when destroying Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, was a winning issue for Republicans. For the first few years after the marquee health-care law passed in 2010, many voters despised it. The law’s favorability was underwater in almost every poll for the first six years of its existence. (Catherine Rampell, 11/28)