Alana Semuels
@alanasemuels.bsky.social
Journalist covering health care, economics, and consumer issues at TIME. Formerly of The Atlantic and the Los Angeles Times. SF -> NY. Alana.semuels@time.com
Patients are flocking to niche websites to get prescriptions and drugs without much, if any, clinician oversight. A lot has gone wrong. I looked at the rise of telehealth ‘pill mills:’ time.com/article/2026...
The Rise of Telehealth 'Pill Mills'
As people become accustomed to getting prescriptions online, sites are flourishing without much medical oversight.
time.com
Stop Saying There's a Nursing Shortage: A study of nearly 8,000 nurses who left the profession between '18 & '21 found that 26% left because of burnout, & 21% cited insufficient staffing. Reporting by @alanasemuels.bsky.social time.com/article/2026...
Stop Saying There's a Nursing Shortage
The U.S. may have less of a shortage of licensed nurses than a shortage of nurses who are willing to work in bedside jobs that have become increasingly demanding.
time.com
States, not the federal government, might be actually the ones that force companies to say when they've added new chemicals or substances to food. time.com/article/2026...
The Trump Administration Wants More Food Ingredient Disclosure
A new proposed rule would make companies reveal when they add new substances to food.
time.com
Very unusual: A FDA committee voted against FDA staff's own advice in recommending that BP-157 and KPV, two peptides, be allowed to be compounded by pharmacies in the U.S. Significantly, most of the 'YES' votes came from members who advise telehealth companies. My piece: time.com/article/2026...
An FDA Committee Just Voted in Favor of Peptides—Despite the Agency's Opposition
The group met on July 24 to vote on whether compounding pharmacies could legally dispense certain peptides.
time.com
The next year will see millions of people lose health coverage because of changes to Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies. Nearly 450,000 just lost their insurance yesterday: time.com/article/2026...
Nearly 450,000 New Yorkers Are Losing Health Coverage July 1
Thousands of low-income New Yorkers are among the first to feel the impacts of the "Big Beautiful Bill."
time.com
In the years after starting a GLP-1, women are more likely to marry and get jobs; men are more likely to leave their current partners, according to a new paper: www.nber.org/system/files...
nber.org
Nurse practitioners and physician assistants make about half of what doctors do. So medical groups are embracing them -- but can they provide an equal level of care? Another way of asking the question might be: do doctors have too much training? time.com/article/2026...
Why You're Seeing a PA or NP—But Not a Doctor
Physician assistants and nurse practitioners have a growing role in medicine in the U.S., marking a shift away from physician-led care.
time.com
Lured in by misleading websites that impersonate the ACA marketplace, people who try to sign up for Affordable Care Act plans are ending up with bare bones, non-ACA compliant junk insurance instead. time.com/7329578/affo...
How Fake Health Insurance Is Luring People In
In search of affordable health care coverage, more Americans are accidentally buying fake insurance.
time.com
The NFL changed its rules to try and prevent head injuries; the NCAA, high school, and youth football leagues have not done the same. If they did, “ it would substantially reduce the number of individuals who develop CTE,” multiple people told me. time.com/7326264/is-n...
Is the NFL Safer Than High School Football?
The NFL has taken steps to prevent head injuries in players. Other leagues have not.
time.com
Anti-abortion communities are using private and public money to install baby boxes—devices where people can anonymously surrender infants—in fire stations and hospitals. In June 2020 there were just 29 of these devices in the U.S., now there are more than 350. My story: time.com/7299476/baby...
Why Baby Boxes Are Suddenly Everywhere
Devices to help parents anonymously surrender an infant are spreading across the U.S., stirring emotions and debate.
time.com
Many parents can't find after-school programs for their kids. This year, disappearing federal funding and staff shortages is making the problem even worse. time.com/7318911/afte...
The Nightmare of Finding After-School Care in America
‘Am I going to have to quit my job? What am I going to do?’
time.com
"The real question is: is there any reason to be pushing high-fat dairy? And no, I don’t think we have a case that’s a good thing to do.” The Trump administration wants to get whole milk back in schools. Nutritionists aren't so sure it's a good idea. time.com/7316536/is-w...
A Battle Is Brewing Over Whole Milk
Opposing viewpoints about whether whole milk is healthy or not illuminate a growing debate in nutrition science.
time.com
Oh look, I'm featured on KQED in a story about that time I was pregnant 5 years ago and the sky turned orange and San Francisco couldn't breathe: www.kqed.org/science/1998...
Breathing Poison: You Can’t Outrun Wildfire Smoke | KQED
Five years ago, Alana Semuels fled California for New York, hoping to avoid another toxic wildfire season, but then haze from Canadian fires followed her there.
kqed.org
"Costs of equipment like food warmers and refrigerators have gone up dramatically since the pandemic; Soltanmorad says she was recently quoted $11,000 for a piece of equipment that cost just $2,500 in 2019."
Alana Semuels@alanasemuels.bsky.social · last yr.MAHA wants to change school lunches, which it says are "poisoning" children. But to get processed food out of meals, schools will have to build new kitchens, hire more staff, and overcome chronic budget shortages: time.com/7311868/heal...
MAHA wants to change school lunches, which it says are "poisoning" children. But to get processed food out of meals, schools will have to build new kitchens, hire more staff, and overcome chronic budget shortages: time.com/7311868/heal...
Why It's So Hard to Make School Lunches Healthier
The MAHA movement's goal to improve school lunches faces big obstacles.
time.com
Mississippi had already received an "F" from the March of Dimes for its maternal and infant health outcomes. Then its infant mortality rates got even worse. time.com/7312122/miss...
Infant Deaths Spur Public Health Emergency in Mississippi
The highest infant mortality rate in a decade has spurred the state to declare a crisis.
time.com
Childcare centers are closing across the country after the expiration of federal and state money that helped them survive the pandemic. time.com/7309693/dayc...
Why So Many Childcare Centers Are Closing
The end of pandemic-era subsidies are forcing many centers to shut their doors or raise rates.
time.com
I was on CBS Morning News today to talk about why women are leaving the workforce in droves. Check out the link here: www.cbsnews.com/video/why-mo...
Why more women are leaving the U.S. workforce
More than 200,000 women who are 20 years or older have left the U.S. workforce since January, new jobs report data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Alana Semuels, a senior correspondent...
cbsnews.com
What's wild is that while 212,000 women 20 and older have left the labor force since January, among women 25-34 years old, 330,000 have exited during the same time period.
Alana Semuels@alanasemuels.bsky.social · last yr.After a pandemic boost, women's labor force participation is falling again. Why? A combination of strict RTO policies and vanishing childcare funding: time.com/7306896/wome...
Return-to-office policies are not proven to make companies more productive. Many CEOs who reported women quitting said they were struggling to fill jobs because of that loss of female employees and that their overall workforce productivity is down. time.com/7306896/wome...
Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce
Labor force participation among women has started falling again in 2025.
time.com
"For many women, this is more than an economic problem: it’s a depressing reminder that the brief period of time when work-from-home reigned—when balancing family and work was actually sometimes possible—is over."
Alana Semuels@alanasemuels.bsky.social · last yr.After a pandemic boost, women's labor force participation is falling again. Why? A combination of strict RTO policies and vanishing childcare funding: time.com/7306896/wome...
After a pandemic boost, women's labor force participation is falling again. Why? A combination of strict RTO policies and vanishing childcare funding: time.com/7306896/wome...
Why So Many Women Are Quitting the Workforce
Labor force participation among women has started falling again in 2025.
time.com
Falling funding for domestic violence support groups is leading to shuttered shelters, closed hotlines, and a reduction in resources for survivors. "People are going to die," one advocate told me. time.com/7305918/dome...
'People Are Going to Die': Cuts Leave Domestic Violence Support Groups Reeling
Key federal funding has been declining and is likely to drop more in coming years.
time.com
I sat through an all-day FDA hearing on fluoride supplements so you didn't have to! Dentists, doctors, and, um, science, were on the defensive. time.com/7305009/fda-...
The FDA Might Ban Fluoride Supplements. Dentists Are Upset
Ingestible fluoride is under fire by the FDA. Dentists are pushing back.
time.com
I wrote about the seniors who are "too rich" for Medicaid but too poor to afford the long-term care they need. Their numbers are growing as the country ages and will likely grow more with Medicaid cuts. time.com/7304510/seni...
Why So Many Seniors Can't Afford Long-Term Care
A growing group of middle-income elderly people are too rich for government benefits but can't afford long-term care.
time.com
In many states, one health insurer has a monopoly on the market. That drives up prices and worsens care. In Alabama, BCBS has 94% market share. time.com/7302346/heal...
How Health Insurance Monopolies Affect Your Care
In some states, one health insurer dominates the market, driving up prices and creating red tape.
time.com
Rural hospitals are closing across the country. Why? It's probably not what you think. time.com/7298891/rura...
The Surprising Reason Rural Hospitals Are Closing
It's not just Medicaid or Medicare: Private insurance payments lag in rural areas.
time.com
Violence in intimate relationships increased 7-10% in regions that added abortion restrictions after Dobbs, a new study finds: time.com/7295172/abor...
Abortion Bans Worsen Violence in Relationships, Study Finds
A new study shows that intimate partner violence increased in places requiring far travel to abortion clinics.
time.com
“I have gone down to Haiti nine times, and I have never seen the level of decay that I saw when I worked in Florida,” one dentist told me, about Floridian teeth.
America’s teeth are in bad shape, and dentists say that looming policy changes like Medicaid cuts and bans on fluoridation will make them even worse. time.com/7291226/amer...
America's Dental Health Is in Trouble
Fluoride bans and proposed Medicaid cuts are worrying dentists.
time.com