Maybe you can help solve a mystery

November 3, 2024 Check out STAT+

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By Torie Bosch First Opinion editor

I used to love the show "Unsolved Mysteries" — not the watered-down Netflix version with its fancy production values, but the old-school one hosted by Robert Stack, where you would get a story about a bank robber, then one about aliens, and then one about a long-lost child placed for adoption. The theme still makes my heart rate quicken a little. Every episode, Stack's gravely voice would intone, "Maybe you can help solve a mystery." Now, I'm no Robert Stack, but I am gratified by how this newsletter helped me solve a recent problem. I hope and trust it will happen again. Last week, I shared a frustrating problem with all of you: I had repeatedly tried to find experts to write on President Biden, former President Trump, aging, and health. And my complaints worked! In response, I received a wonderful essay from Joanne Lynn, a clinical professor of geriatrics and palliative care at the George Washington University. It opens with this rather attention-grabbing paragraph: "Nearly 50 years ago, I wrote a published letter objecting to the release of Gerald Ford's full physical, including genitalia and rectal exam. I thought that was unseemly, and that expecting that level of disclosure would make it harder for women — and for a man with some irrelevant abnormality — to run for office. But I expected continuing disclosure of conditions that actually affected job performance or survival." I'm glad we haven't had that much disclosure in this campaign. As a Pennsylvania voter, I look forward to a day in the future when the campaign calls and mailers stop. As an opinion editor, I'm eager to see what comes next. And just as this newsletter helped me find Joanne's excellent piece, I hope to keep telling all of you what I'm looking for in hopes that the right pair of eyes will read. As the vote count plays out and we learn about the new administration, please keep First Opinion in mind. Are you worried? Frustrated? Think something is missing from the capital-d Discourse? Email me and let me know what's on your mind: first.opinion@statnews.com.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images STAT+ | I'm a geriatric physician. Here's what I think is going on with Trump's executive function A geriatric physician writes, "Biden got slammed in the press, mostly for the wrong reasons. Until recently, Trump very nearly got a pass." By Joanne Lynn Medicare's hidden information hurts people, policy Misleading quality grades. Not-so-transparent transparency. How are Medicare beneficiaries supposed to make choices? By Michael L. Millenson Doctors: To get your patients to share, stop judging them when they do My new research finds that despite what they say, doctors do judge patients based on what they believe. That's dangerous. By Samantha Kleinberg Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images STAT+ | What Trump and RFK Jr.'s 'Make America Healthy Again' gets right — and very wrong To make America healthier, we need an accurate diagnosis and an effective prescription — not sound bites and conspiracy theories. By Tom Frieden Agricultural subsidies are killing Americans and fueling the climate crisis The twin crises of diet-related chronic disease and climate change are now taking a serious toll on our health. A new Farm Bill can help with both. By Logan Harper STAT+ | The progressive campaign against biomedical innovation Each year of the Biden-Harris administration has brought successive government interventions in the health care system. By Vrushab Gowda and Brian J. Miller Abortion is just another part of medicine In a rapidly changing reproductive health landscape, allowing more abortions to happen at family medicine offices could ease the burden. By Torie Bosch I'm the director of the Center for Medicare. Here's how we executed the first round of drug price negotiation Medicare Director Meena Seshamani shares how the IRA drug price negotiations happened — and how the second round will be different. By Meena Seshamani STAT+ | Precision medicine can't fulfill its promise without better diagnostics If you think of precision medicine as a highly specialized instrument, it will only ever be as good as its calibration. By Amit Agrawal Steven Senne/AP Fecal transplants are saving lives — but are now at risk The Food and Drug Administration must act so patients with refractory C. difficile infection can access lifesaving fecal transplants. By Neil Stollman

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