More And More, Americans Must Make This Choice: Take On Debt Or Forgo Insurance And Hope For The Best
Rising health care costs are forcing otherwise financially secure Americans to make tough decisions about who in their family gets coverage. David and Maribel Maldonado's struggles are highlighted in a Bloomberg series looking at the painful financial and medical trade-offs Americans are making just to get care.
Bloomberg:
Soaring Health-Care Costs Forced This Family to Choose Who Can Stay Insured
The Maldonados’ story is a tale of middle-class Americans juggling family finances. With the ever-present pressure of a mortgage and looming college tuition, many otherwise-financially sound families face a stark choice when health-care premiums shoot wildly higher: Take on debt or opt out of the medical system and hope for the best. The Maldonados’ story is part of Bloomberg’s year-long examination of Americans struggling to afford the rising costs of health care—and the painful financial and medical trade-offs that inevitably follow. (Kasumov, 11/13)
In other national health care news —
The Associated Press:
Ousted Minnesota Republican Faults McCain For Losing House
A recently defeated Republican congressman is blaming the Democratic House takeover on the late Republican Sen. John McCain's vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act. First-term Minnesota Rep. Jason Lewis argued in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece first published Sunday that McCain's vote against repealing the federal health care law last year "killed the reform effort." Lewis said the vote also unleashed a wave of Democratic attack ads against Republicans across the country on health care issues. (11/12)
Bloomberg:
Democrat Sinema Wins Republican-Held U.S. Senate Seat In Arizona
Kyrsten Sinema became the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in three decades, after an extended vote count delivered an upset victory and a blow to Republicans and President Donald Trump. ...Sinema is a former Green Party activist who over time became a moderate Democrat. Like many on the ballot from her party, she stressed her support for Obamacare and its popular protection for people with pre-existing health conditions. But she also distanced herself from more liberal Democrats by rejecting a push to expand Medicare to cover all Americans. (Litvan, 11/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
A Reckoning With The Dark Side Of The Restaurant Industry
When television personality and former chef Anthony Bourdain killed himself in June, Charles Ford, the general manager of a high-end restaurant in Chicago, took the news as a personal call to action: He would no longer be silent about his three suicide attempts. “I don’t want to hide it anymore,” says Mr. Ford, 31, who says he slashed his wrists on three occasions between late 2015 and spring 2016. Workers with suicidal impulses and other emotional crises often hide their pain in his profession, Mr. Ford says. “We need to do everything we can to turn this around, and the first step is saying it out loud.” (McLaughlin and Osipova, 11/12)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Considers Making Food Labels Disclose Sesame To Help Allergy Sufferers
Sophie Schmults has never had Chinese food or hummus. She is careful with what hamburger buns she eats. And she is wary of any food that says it contains “spices” or “natural flavorings.” The 13-year-old, diagnosed with a sesame allergy when she was a baby, says a measure being considered by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to add sesame to the list of allergens that packaged-food labels must disclose would dramatically change her life. (Reddy, 11/12)