Noom users say they feel misled by the diet app

Hello,

Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm Leah Rosenbaum, a new healthcare editor at Insider who will be helping Lydia with this newsletter for the next few months. Today in healthcare news:

• Weight-loss app Noom calls itself anti-diet, but users say they it relies on calorie restriction;
• Former Accolade executive Dr. Alan Spiro is joining at-home care startup Laguna Health;
• Polls show that Americans are just fine with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at lrosenbaum@insider.com or tweet @leah_rosenbaum. As Lydia likes to say, let's get to it...

First - some breaking news from last night. The FDA on Wednesday evening authorized boosters of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 and up and people at higher risk.

That includes people between 18-64 who are at higher risk of getting a severe COVID-19 case, and people at higher risk based on where they work or where they live. Boosters are only available to people who were initially vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech shot.

Read the full story>>

Noom markets itself as an anti-diet lifestyle app. Users say they find themselves counting calories, receiving canned advice from burned-out coaches, and taking on expensive subscriptions.

• Noom is an industry leader in weight-loss apps with millions of dollars in venture-capital funding.
• The company pitches itself as offering personalized weight-loss support using psychological methods.
• Users and former employees say it relies on calorie restriction and coaches are burned out.

Get the full story>>

A longtime Accolade executive is setting his sights on at-home care as the next big opportunity for upending how care is delivered in the US

• Dr. Alan Spiro, a longtime Accolade executive, is joining Laguna Health as its chief medical officer and president.
• At-home care has been an area of growth for digital health during the COVID-induced funding boom.
• The rapid adoption of telehealth helped startups offering in-home care, Laguna CEO Yoni Shtein said.

Check it out now>>

Poll after poll shows the same thing: Americans are cool with vaccine mandates

• Three recent polls show that a majority of Americans support vaccine mandates.
• The popularity of vaccine requirements has risen as the Delta variant surged.
• Hardline opposition to getting vaccinated has fallen to a new low.
  

Read more here>>

More stories we're reading:

• Some doctors are spreading COVID-19 misinformation. Will they be held accountable? (Kaiser Health News)
• China's biotech industry has quietly surged to a $180 billion behemoth. Here's how it's reshaping biotech as we know it, from M&A to drug pricing (Insider)
• A new federal office plans to look at climate change through a public-health lens (The Wall Street Journal)
• Tennessee says vaccinated people should be last in line for antibody treatments to save them for the unvaccinated (Insider)

-Leah