The most common reason people visit their doctor might surprise you. It’s not back problems, high blood pressure or diabetes. According to a 2013 survey by the Mayo Clinic, the No. 1 reason is skin disorders.

Bennet Omalu is a forensic pathologist who lives comfortably in Sacramento with his wife and two young kids. Chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County and a clinical professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine, his life today contrasts sharply with being a malnourished infant during Nigeria’s Civil War.

Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee on navigating the uncertainty of health insurance. 

The opioid crisis was born in the late 1990s. Pharmaceutical companies said opioids — a class of drugs that produce pleasurable effects and relieve pain — weren’t addicting. Healthcare providers prescribed more of them. Twenty years later, we’re in the throes of an epidemic.

The U.S. retirement age is rising, as the government pushes it higher and workers stay in careers longer.

But lifespans aren’t necessarily extending to offer equal time on the beach.

From a robot’s perspective, humans probably look like deeply flawed creatures: imprecise, accident-prone, injury-ridden, hazardous — walking glitches waiting to happen.

This view isn’t exactly wrong.

We’ve all been there: You’re waiting to give a big presentation, maybe you dread public speaking, and you feel your stomach twist itself into a pretzel. Or maybe you meet someone new, someone interesting, and when they make eye contact you feel your stomach do a joyful little flip. It happens all of the time. We feel things before we have time to mentally process.

Jason Guardino, a gastroenterologist and an assistant physician in chief at Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, gives his perspective on how our guts have become front and center in the understanding of our overall health.

In the Sacramento region, at least one major medical provider is already on the same page with the benefits of OpenNotes. Across the country, an estimated 13 million patients can now access their notes. This open-source movement, proponents say, represents a shift away from a paternalistic model of medical care and toward a model of fully-engaged and informed patients. And that, they argue, is better for everyone.

OpenNotes Executive Director Catherine DesRoches gives her perspective on the movement to get patients more access to their medical information. For more from DesRoches, check out “The Open Patient” in our May issue. Sign up for our newsletter and we’ll email you when it’s available online.