Nov 9: ICYMI news for women
No TL;DR. Just the facts, ma'am. Dozens of new articles in the last week alone that matter to women. Click your picks, ignore the bricks: we watch the news so you don't have to.
Sunday Snippets is a round-up of headlines about women’s health and lives from the past week that we haven’t covered in our regular posts. Snippets is a perk for our terrific paid subscribers, released three days later for all subscribers. It takes time — 10+ hours every week — to search for relevant news, add context and deeper dive links and get these news stories to you without ads or promotions. If you find this valuable, give us a shout-out with a❤️ or a share, or consider buying us a much needed espresso or—definitely better yet—a paid subscription to support our work: we do it for you.
In the news this week for women: Elections: Gen X, Millennial women leaders rising with unusual double digit victory margins…smart tide turning? Comprehensive shutdown update, including Nov 10 vote to start ending it—and an interesting theory on why Congressional Rs may have preferred not opening before December 2. Open enrollment cost calculators, info and tips on changes and costs. Melatonin and heart failure? Maybe not. GLP-1 price wars. Rings, watches and … toilets? Golden age for hair loss—what works for the 3 types. Finally: clues on lupus, where women are 90% of cases. Ways to fend off SAD. Peleton recall. New meds and gene editing: goodbye cholesterol? Lots of women’s health news by generation: Gen Z, Millennials, pregnancy and parenting, midlife, and the kiss-those-periods-goodbye crowd. News influencer fact sheet. The latest health warps from Kennedy—including a ‘study’ conducted by civilians with no medical training. The Medicaid program that saved money, turned people’s health around—and got killed. A brain app that can reverse delines, 6 solid tips on cutting through the noise on femtech, and much, much more.
Tip: If you hit a paywall here or anywhere, copy the URL of the article into archive.ph.1
See our footnotes and italicized comments for context from our 30+ years in healthcare.
Articles marked with an asterisk (*) are from professional journals.
Disclaimer: Listing these headlines does not indicate a recommendation. With so many news items each week, we don’t take the time to review each. Use common sense and dig deeper into any issue that interests you. More on sources and bias.2
This week’s Women in the News photo
From a generations theory perspective, in our self-inflicted crisis era—predicted by authors Strauss and Howe to occur by 2025—Gen X emerges as pragmatic midlife leaders in crisis and Millennials resolve the crisis, defining their lives. And right now terrific, experienced women leaders in both generations are winning political battles with highly unusual double digit margins: not an ambiguous message. Pictured from upper left, clockwise: Gen Xers Adelita Grijalva, US House of Representatives (when Mike Johnson finally admits her) and Abigal Spanberger, governor-elect of Virginia; Millennial Mary Sheffield, the first female mayor of a major American city; and Gen Xer Mikie Sherrill, governor-elect of New Jersey. Celebrate them…we need their strengths and leadership badly!
Still front and center: The Shutdown, now the longest ever … and the E word emerges. Again.
UPDATE 11/10: The shutdown endgame appears near. Here’s what to expect next, and here’s how the the 8 Dems who voted with Republicans to end the shutdown explain their thinking.
ORIGINAL POST: Republicans have insisted on funding government before considering extending ACA tax credit and—surprise!—Democrats don’t trust Trump to follow through if they vote to fund government first. Chuck Schumer (D, NY) called that card yesterday on the Senate floor with a win-win offer: a one-year extension of the ACA tax credits and a spending bill to “honor both positions.” Rs barely paused for a breath before voting it down as a “no-starter,” making it clear they currently have no intention of assisting the 24 million terrified limited-means Americans whose insurance costs are increasing 300% or more, well beyond their ability to afford health insurance. See an emerging possibly-related issue below on what may actually be behind this immediate no: If the Shutdown ended now, Congress would have to return to normal business—and that may not be something Congress can afford to have happen until after Dec. 2.
There are already indications the Shutdown could go beyond Thanksgiving as both sides leverage American pain, with the WH threating flight cancellations of up to 20%, sure to anger millions of travelers—although pressure tactics are surprisingly falling flat. On the Dem side, ACA members are discovering the reality right now (open enrollment) of significant insurance premium increases. Air traffic controller passive resistance (sick calls) planed a key role ending the prior longest shutdown during Trump I, and that Rs have tried (and failed) to kill off ACA hundreds of times before. Further stirring the pot, still with only "concepts” of an alternative, Trump threw a new cash idea into the plot yesterday morning. Thune: “Maybe later.”
The Senate is at least working on it this weekend, with some moderate Ds pushing a short-term plan, although it’s unclear whether it would be supported by more Ds. Republican leaders only need five additional votes to fund the government, and the group involved in the talks has ranged from 10 to 12 D senators. But the elections strengthened D resolve, and with their long-standing hyperallergy to the ACA, Rs are also digging in. They’re at it again today, with flight cancellations mounting and Trump avoiding all of it while going to football games while noting the new Commander stadium should obviously be named…you guess it…Trump stadium.
In the meantime, polls this week indicate majorities of the public continue to support extending ACA credits. A third of the public says the Shutdown is affecting them personally, with Trump’s approval sinking like a rock and the public still blaming Rs more than Ds for the Shutdown.
With nothing else making a whole lot of sense, some intriguing timeline speculation is emerging about Johnson’s ever-evolving excuses to delay swearing in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D, AZ), elected to the House 6 weeks ago and expected to be the needed 218th vote to release the infamous Epstein files. The theory is that Johnson needs to stall until after the Dec 2 Tennessee 7th District special Houe election, where an R candidate is polling better than the D and could “neutralize” Grijalva’s impact on Epstein release and “rebalance” funding votes. Some Rs with ties to the FBI or DOJ are also now saying the Epstein files are worse than Michael Wolff’s description of Epstein photos showing Trump with half-naked teen girls—a description even Pam Bondi refuses to confirm or deny, causing speculation and rumors to “sweep through the GOP caucus.” If true, Epstein is exactly the kind of news you’d want to bury in, say, the December holiday hubbub—so any delay now on Epstein helps, and re-opening the House for business now would not. The 7th District R candidate wins, and Johnson may be able to stall again until midterms (or beyond). The R guy loses, and any new Epstein headlines get lost in the holidays. Win-win for Johnson and Trump, lose-lose for accountability.
Particularly after Britain’s royals hid Prince Andrew even further out of sight this week over new Epstein details, you really do have to wonder just how bad those files are to generate so many release games here. [Related: Ds have invited Andrew for a chat. No kidding.]
- Open enrollment: More on health insurance news
WaPo: In depth graphical look at exactly how much and where ACA premiums are rising and the impact on the lives of 8 Americans. (Gift article)
ACA open enrollment
It’s not just the ACA. Here’s why health insurance costs are going up and Medicare benefits are going down.
70% of Americans worry they can’t afford healthcare in our for-profit system.
Investopedia: 9 major Medicare changes: Premiums, drug prices, program cuts.
Yes, someone 65+ can be on Medicaid. Here’s why cuts to that program matter.
News flash: Seniors on Medicare are not luddites. A huge issue. Medicare insurers are firmly stuck in 1980s digital offerings.
Our bodies
- Trending
Don’t lose sleep for now over headlines linking melatonin to heart failure.
Science is finally unearthing secrets of lupus, a woman’s disease with “1000 faces.”
Women at the center of community health: How hunger relief groups say we can help feed your neighbors during the shutdown.
- Nutrition, exercise, sleep, and looking great
Digitizing the daily … deposit. Data from watches, rings, phones and beds yield health insights. Plumbing new depths, WSJ looks at three devices that aim to analyze our daily output. (Gift article)
A “golden age” of hair: 3 types of hair loss—and what actually helps.
How to avoid SAD, according to the psychiatrist who named it.
Bad air is one of the biggest health threats; here’s how to protect yourself.
Peleton recalls almost a million bikes for broken seat risk. (Gift article)
- New meds, prevention, and treatments
Note we often group some articles in generational/lifestyle categories for easier reading, but generations don’t have a ‘hard stop’—they overlap, so check topics. Also check the Femtech section, below, for more news that can apply to your generation and interests.
- Gen Z and Millennials
Gen Z wants schools and hospitals, not superyachts and helicopters.
Social psychologist warns Gen z’s brains are ‘growing around their phones’ the way a tree warps around a tombstone. Well, OK, he’s definitely not a Gen Z. Just sayin.’ FWIW, my experience is Gen Z does real life as well—completely integrated.
How Millennials and Gen Z are driving evidence-based wellness trends.
*Study: PCOS: Why type do you have? It makes a difference in treatment.
- Pregnancy, birth and parenting
High costs, low guarantee: Freezing the biological (egg) clock. (Video)
We’ve written about how women have been misled into thinking C-sections are problem-free and routine. They’re not: C-sections are major abdominal surgery, from which we don’t give women nearly enough time or support for recovery. (If men had cesareans…) Side effects—when they occur—can be life-threatening and physically damaging. And now a grave side effect of C-sections is on the rise. (Gift article) Don’t be afraid of cesareans; they save lives. But do get educated long before your due date about potential issues for you and your baby. Know what to avoid and your rights, because we do know how to prevent unnecessary cesareans. Start here and here.
*Study: Prenatal COVID linked to adverse infant neurodevelopment.
*Related meta-analysis study: Safety of COVID vaccine during pregnancy. A meta-analysis is a study that combines the results of multiple independent studies on the same topic to produce a more precise and powerful conclusion.
Pregnancy and breastfeeding reduce the risk of cancer. Now we have clues why.
Indianapolis launches cash infant mortality prevention program.
- Midlife and perimenopause
Largest study of its kind focusses on midlife sexual dysfunction.
Mayo Clinic: Most midlife women with menopause symptoms don’t seek care.
Demand for testosterone is growing—but do midlife women need it?
Only 21 of 5 midlife women meet Heart Association Essential 8 scores. Here’s what’s missing.
- The untethered-to-my-uterus years
Who will care for me when I’m old—a question more of us are asking.
Independent research: App “reverses 10 years of of brain decline.” Yes, the app developer funded the research, but McGill is a respected research institution.
Pew Research: How Americans are thinking about aging.
Why most people fall off a ‘health cliff’ at 75—and 5 ways to avoid it.
Study: Minimum steps for longevity and heart health benefits in older women.
News impacting our health and lives, and those we love and guide
- RFK Jr’s HHS and related Trump administration health news
Minority health researchers walk tightrope amid NIH funding cuts.
Bloomberg (opinion): FDA chaos threatens medical innovation and patient health.
Senate Dems demand answers on abortion pill ‘study’ authored by people with no medical training after 20+ years of FDA safety data.
Deeper dives | policy
Politico: The Medicaid program that saved money, turned people’s health around—and got killed.
Pew Research: One of five US adults (and 4 of 10 Gen Zs) regularly get news from social media influencers. Here’s a fact sheet on news influencers.
Femtech and women’s health innovation
We’re way past time for innovation in women’s health, and Femtech is hoping to fill the gap. Don’t miss this free post with tips on investing in women’s health and see more about why investors are excited, but also why femtech can be the new Wild West. And see more about why we have a special section on femtech.3
Strong growth at Establishment Labs as Mia femtech product does well.
Noom launches diabetes lifestyle program and AI-powered glucose forecasting tool. Timely retooling from this weight-loss site.
How femtech Uresta is changing the future of women’s bladder care.
Good summary of 6 tips on cutting through the noise in femtech: key takeaways from Women’s Health Week 2025.
Archive.ph is a web archiving service that captures and preserves snapshots of web pages. If it’s a lesser-known site or if the article is very popular, it could take a few minutes to load, but it generally works very well—including, BTW, forwarding posts to Canada or other countries wisely concerned about some of our US media.
Sources: We check both public and professional news sites, with click-throughs for sources. We tend to go straight to the original info more than the interpretation of popular magazines and blogs, as we’ve found the latter do not always correctly interpret medical science information. Medical editors are becoming rare. We give you the news directly, including the primary studies when available, and leave you to your interpretation.
Bias: Yes, we’re biased. 1) We’ve been in women’s and children’s health for over three decades as providers, international consultants, and health system execs. If you’re in healthcare, with few exceptions, women’s and children’s services are not where you make money; those services are more often loss leaders. From policy to research to reimbursement for providers, women and children are second rate citizens, absolutely related to the historical perception of monetary value. So, you probably won’t be surprised we do not lean politically right on women’s health. We are center left but fair: we do not misrepresent data, and we do scan information from neutral and both center-left and center-right sites. It’s also possible we are a bit cynical. 2) We were trained in Western medicine, but have lived long enough to know much of Eastern and Ayurvedic medicine systems work just as well—what the US now calls “complementary and integrative medicine.” We strongly prefer actual scientific research to back up therapies, and definitely for therapies with potential harmful side effects. 3) If you’re wondering about media bias, check it on AllSides. We do. Another cool website and app (thank you, Julie L!) is ground.news, which rates political bias in particular stories.
We have a special section on femtech for three reasons: While not all femtech is created equal, outside investors—now finally often led now by women—are stepping up in a major way to fill the huge hole that traditional medical research is still neglecting and will worsen under Trump and Kennedy’s NIH that classifies women’s health research as DEI. Second, many of us have never invested specifically in women’s health but are in a position now to do so—if not us, then who? Finally, it’s a good eye-opener to those of us who have been dulled to the possibility of better after decades of often insensitive and boringly predictable care. Femtech views that neglect as opportunity.