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WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Are you one of those folks who thinks they have somehow miraculously managed to avoid COVID-19 infection more than two years into the pandemic?You might be mistaken, claims new research that discovered most people hit by the highly contagious Omicron variant had symptoms so mild they didn't know they were infected.A full 56% of those infected weren't aware they had COVID-19, researchers report. Earlier studies had found that as many as 80% of those infected never experienced symptoms. "These findings help to confirm what we have suspected for some time, which is that many COVID infections are not being detected or recognized — in part because they are not resulting in a lot of symptoms and in part because there is limited access to or use...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2022 (American Heart Association News) -- Maintaining excellent cardiovascular health may lower the risk for abnormalities in the small vessels of the brain, a new study suggests.Scientists aren't sure what causes the condition, known as cerebral small vessel disease, or CSVD. Previous research shows CSVD contributes to about half of dementia cases, a quarter of clot-caused strokes and most bleeding strokes.For the new study, researchers looked at data from 3,067 older adults in Lishui, China. The study team ranked each person's cardiovascular health as "poor," "intermediate" or "ideal" based on three medical factors (blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar) and four modifiable behaviors (not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating healthy and being...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- The Biden Administration plans to stop buying COVID tests, vaccines and treatments as early as the fall, White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said Tuesday.Under that plan, those products would be provided through the regular health care system, Jha said at an event sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, CNN reported."One of the things we've spent a lot of time thinking about in the last many months -- and we're going to continue this work, and you'll hear more from the administration on this -- is getting us out of that acute emergency phase where the U.S. government is buying the vaccines, buying the treatments, buying the diagnostic tests," Jha said."My hope is that in 2023, you're going to see the...

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 17, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law, making it the most significant health care legislation enacted in more than a decade. How will it affect health care?Millions of Americans covered by Medicare will see big reductions in costs for both health care and prescription drugs. And those covered by the last major health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), will also enjoy financial savings.For those on Medicare, the many improvements include a cap that limits out-of-pocket drug costs at $2,000 per year, the government's new ability to negotiate some prescription drug prices, and limits on the monthly cost of insulin. For the roughly 13 million people who have insurance under the ACA, the new law...