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07.03.25

We’re hopping into your inboxes early this week, ahead of July 4. I’m also using this holiday as an opportunity to remind everyone of some summer safety tips to keep in mind as you celebrate. More on that below, but first, here are this week’s top health stories.  

— Sanjay

Watch: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, explains the effect weight loss drugs can have on your body.

Major insurance changes are coming to GLP-1s. Here’s how that could affect patients  

CVS Caremark – a major pharmacy benefit manager that serves as a middleman for health insurers, large employers and other payers to manage their prescription drug plans – has stopped covering Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, a blockbuster GLP-1 drug that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or who are overweight. 

Wegovy, the GLP-1 medication to treat obesity from Lilly competitor Novo Nordisk, will still be covered under plans managed by CVS Caremark, along with a few other medications that are generally less effective. 

But adapting to a change in medication will often interrupt a patient's weight-loss trajectory.

The cost of loneliness can be death. Here’s how to find good friends  

Finding friends as an adult can be hard. Some people’s mindsets hinder their ability to make connections, while a lack of affordable places to meet is a challenge for others, said Danielle Bayard Jackson, director of the Women’s Relational Health Institute. But the effort is worth it. 

Many people have a fear of rejection, real or perceived, while others have social anxiety, Jackson said. But if you never take risks, Dr. Amit Kumar, associate professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, noted, you never give your brain a chance to see that you actually can socialize.

Practicing cognitive behavioral therapy or setting yourself up for “micro” moments to put yourself out there can help you regulate social anxiety and rejection-sensitivity, experts said.

A couple tried for 18 years to get pregnant. AI made it happen 

After trying to conceive for 18 years, one couple is now pregnant with their first child thanks to the power of artificial intelligence. 

They had undergone several rounds of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, visiting fertility centers around the world in the hopes of having a baby. But the attempts were unsuccessful due to a condition in which no measurable sperm are present in the male partner’s semen, which can lead to male infertility.  

So the couple, who wish to remain anonymous to protect their privacy, went to the Columbia University Fertility Center to try a novel approach. 

It’s called the STAR method, and it uses AI to help identify and recover hidden sperm in men who once thought they had no sperm at all. All the husband had to do was leave a semen sample with the medical team.  

Princess of Wales discusses cancer recovery

Watch: Catherine, the Princess of Wales, spoke to patients at Colchester Hospital about life after cancer treatment. She said the phase had proven "really difficult" and emphasized the need for post-treatment support. The visit to the hospital was her first public appearance since unexpectedly withdrawing from Royal Ascot two weeks ago.

Dogs in your bed? Research says good for some and bad for others

But wait, there's more!

• With federal support uncertain, states and nonprofits scramble to safeguard access to vaccines
• ‘MAHA Report’ calls for fighting chronic disease, but Trump and Kennedy have yanked funding 
• A 'striking' trend: After Texas banned abortion, more women nearly bled to death during miscarriage
• Why are Dutch kids the world’s happiest? A teenager weighs in
• Microplastics found in human semen, follicular fluid  

Watch: Known as the "silent killer," extreme heat is one of the deadliest weather events. As heatwaves become hotter, longer and more frequent due to the climate crisis, it's important to understand why heat can be so deceptively dangerous for some of us and what warning signs to look out for. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains.

Chasing Life

From Dr. Sanjay Gupta — 

You may have noticed: It’s hot out. Still, summer has a way of beckoning us outdoors. 

So I thought this would be a good time to remind you of a few safety tips as we head into the holiday weekend: 

Wear sunscreen: Obvious, right? SPF 30 is the minimum recommended protection level. Make sure you’re choosing broad spectrum sunscreen, so you have protection from both UVA and UVB rays. Don’t forget to reapply – around every 90 minutes. And you should be putting on more sunscreen than you think: about 1 ounce, or a shot glass full, for your entire body. 

Bonus tip: Apply sunscreen before insect repellent. 

Hydrate: It’s easy enough, but the key is to drink fluids before you feel thirsty, because dehydration can come on quickly. And if you’re doing physical activities in the heat, you should drink 8 ounces of water every 15 to 20 minutes.  

Bonus tip: You can actually drink too much water! Don’t drink more than 48 ounces in an hour. 

Practice water safety: Drowning is one of the leading causes of death in young children, so these tips are especially important. You don’t want to leave children unsupervised near a body of water, no matter what – even if they know how to swim or are wearing a floatation device. Even better, swim somewhere that has a lifeguard on duty. Wear a properly fitting life jacket when boating. And it’s not a bad idea to learn CPR. 

Bonus tip: Wear certain colored bathing suits for better visibility in the water – think neon! 

For even more tips, including whether any amount of unfiltered sunlight is good for your eyes, listen to our most recent episode of “Chasing Life.” 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Every day, in hospitals across the country, surgeons make countless life-or-death decisions. For those who operate on children, those stakes can feel even higher. Dr. David Sandberg, author of “Brain and Heart: The Triumphs and Struggles of a Pediatric Neurosurgeon,” sits down with Sanjay, a fellow neurosurgeon to swap stories from the operating room and give a glimpse into how surgeons think under pressure. Listen this Friday. 

CNN Health's The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows up in your

inbox every Friday.

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