Presidential candidates’ views on health care; TIME’s best medical inventions of 2024; patients opt for GLP-1RA over metabolic bariatric surgery – Morning Medical Update

Author(s):

Austin Littrell

Key Takeaways

The U.S. presidential election will have significant implications for healthcare policy, with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as the main contenders.
TIME's 2024 list of top medical inventions includes the ALZpath pTau217 Antibody Alzheimer's blood test and DermaSensor skin cancer detector.
Metabolic bariatric surgery utilization decreased by 25.6% from 2022 to 2023, while GLP-1 receptor antagonist use for obesity management increased by 132.6%.
Clinicians should assess the trade-offs between pharmacologic and surgical options for obesity management in light of changing treatment preferences.

The top news stories in medicine today.

What the next president will do for health care

This Election Day, U.S. voters will decide between Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. The outcome of the election, whether Harris or Trump come out on top, will have major implications on the state of U.S. health care. Here’s a look ahead at what to expect from the next president.

TIME best medical care inventions of 2024

TIME released their compilation of the best inventions of 2024, with a section specifically focused on the year’s top medical innovations. The medical care section consists of 20 inventions across various fields of medicine. Included in the list, the ALZpath pTau217 Antibody Alzheimer’s blood test, the Unify Medical Amplio for precise surgical vision and the DermaSensor skin cancer detector, among others.

Patients opting for GLP-1RA over metabolic bariatric surgery for obesity management

New research shows that the rate of metabolic bariatric surgery decreased by 25.6% from 2022 to 2023, while glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor antagonists (GLP-1RAs) became 132.6% more common for the management of obesity. Clinicians should continue to monitor trade-offs between the pharmacologic and surgical options for adults with obesity.

“Our study provides one of the first national estimates of the decline in utilization of bariatric metabolic surgery among privately insured patients corresponding to the rising use of blockbuster GLP-1RA drugs,” Thomas C. Tsai, M.D., M.P.H., a metabolic bariatric surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained in a news release.