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Millions of families face sticker shock this weekend as open enrollment begins. The amount health insurers are charging for coverage on Affordable Care Act marketplaces is rising 26 percent on average. That’s not so affordable. (11/1)

[President Donald] Trump’s pick of Casey Means is a reminder of the waste and overreach of the “nation’s doctor.” (Jeffrey A. Singer, 11/3)

That something as simple as a Covid vaccine might improve survival in cancer patients receiving standard immunotherapy has taken oncologists by surprise — in a good way. Unfortunately, the discovery comes at a particularly difficult moment for mRNA vaccines. (Lisa Jarvis, 11/1)

At a dinner with friends not long ago, we did what aging friends often do: compared medical notes — statins, arthritis injections, upcoming scans. Then someone added, almost offhand: “Have you tried the new AI? It’s better than the old one.” (Harvey Lieberman, 11/3)

The Q-Collar — a neck collar inspired by the woodpecker — has been worn by NFL players and thousands of young athletes. When it debuted in 2012, it originally promised to reduce concussion risk by lightly squeezing the jugular veins, supposedly stabilizing the brain. By 2019, it started to use more ambiguous language, saying the device could “protect the brain.” The company raised tens of millions of dollars and proudly advertises that it is “FDA authorized.” To most consumers, that sounds like proof. It isn’t, as a colleague and I detailed in an investigation in The BMJ recently. (James Smoliga, 11/2)