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How to shop for new insurance if you lose Medicaid coverage

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

Medicaid coverage will end for millions of Americans in the coming months, and it will push many into unfamiliar territory: the health insurance marketplace.States will start cutting people from the government-funded plans when they no longer qualify based on income, a process that has been paused since shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.The timing of these cuts will vary. But all states have insurance markets where people who lose Medicaid can buy new coverage with help from subsidies. Some states will even connect shoppers with a potential new plan.Shopping for affordable insurance that covers regular doctors and prescriptions can be daunting, especially in marketplaces that offer dozens of choices and subsidies to help pay for them. Experts say it helps to start this search with a plan. Here’s a deeper look at the process.WHAT’S HAPPENING TO MEDICAID?Nearly 85 million people are covered by government-funded Medicaid, which focuses on people with low incomes.At the start of t...

Fight over science holds up key UN climate report

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Publication of a major new United Nations report on climate change is being held up by a battle between rich and developing countries over emissions targets and financial aid to vulnerable nations.The report by hundreds of the world’s top scientists was supposed to be approved by government delegations Friday at the end of a weeklong meeting in the Swiss town of Interlaken.The deadline was repeatedly extended as officials from big nations such as China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, as well as the United Nations and the European Union haggled through the weekend over the wording of key phrases in the text. The report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is meant to cap a series that digests vasts amounts of research on global warming compiled since the Paris climate accord was agreed in 2015.A summary of the report was approved early Sunday, but three sources close to the talks have told The Associated Press that there is a risk that agreement on th...

Higher cancer rates found in military pilots, ground crews

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and for the first time has shown that ground crews who fuel, maintain and launch those aircraft are also getting sick. The data had long been sought by retired military aviators who have raised alarms for years about the number of air and ground crew members they knew who had cancer. They were told that earlier military studies had found they were not at greater risk than the general U.S. population. In its yearlong study of almost 900,000 service members who flew on or worked on military aircraft between 1992 and 2017, the Pentagon found that air crew members had an 87% higher rate of melanoma and a 39% higher rate of thyroid cancer, while men had a 16% higher rate of prostate cancer and women a 16% higher rate of breast cancer. Overall, the air crews had a 24% higher rate of cancer of all types. The study showed ground crews had a 19% higher rate of brain and nervous system cancers, a 15% highe...

Multiple injured in shooting inside South Side Restaurant

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

CHICAGO — Multiple people were injured in a shooting that took place in a South Side restaurant Saturday night.According to police, officers responded to a shooting at the 2400 block of East 72nd Street around 9:06 p.m. and found multiple people injured inside the restaurant. Police say three armed men exited a car and approached the restaurant and began shooting from outside. Three men and one woman were shot. Family remembers Chicago woman found dead in laundry cart Police reports state that a 29-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the thigh and was transported to a hospital in good condition. Two other men, 29 and 32, suffered gunshot wounds to the leg and were also transferred in good condition. A 29-year-old woman suffered one graze wound to the ear and is also listed in good condition. There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

Man charged after officer struck by car on LSD Friday

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

CHICAGO — A man has been charged after a police officer was struck by a vehicle on DuSable Lake Shore Drive Friday.Tajze Mullins, 23, faces multiple felonies of aggravated assault of peace officer, escape and a misdemeanor of obstructing identification. Police say Mullins was arrested in the 7100 block of South Lafayette Avenue and was identified as the man who minutes earlier struck a police officer with his vehicle near the 1100 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive.Tajze Mullins, 23According to police, the officer broke his leg but is in good condition. Multiple injured in shooting inside South Side Restaurant Police reports state that an officer discharged his weapon but no one was hurt. Mullins was placed into custody and charged accordingly. There was no other information provided.

Health insurance coding change impacting a breast reconstruction surgery; what it means for patients

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

Vanessa Vance said she is thinking about her family as she navigates her cancer risks. (Courtesy Vanessa Vance)AUSTIN (KXAN) — Vanessa Vance watched her mother and then aunt battle cancer. She often wondered about her own chances, especially after having her son. "My family has a long history of breast cancer. And so, when I think about my future as a person, I've always told myself, I will be a person who gets breast cancer," she said. She found out through genetic testing that she is at high risk for ovarian and breast cancer. "I was able to take out my fallopian tubes," she said. "So, with the 40 to 60% chance for having a risk for breast cancer, you have a couple of different pathways that you can choose from, but I think really being a mother to a young child kind of influences the more directness for me."Vance has been looking into her options and consulting with doctors and surgeons. She is now in the process of getting a mastectomy and...

Two more days of chilly air before a nice warmup

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The overnight was very tranquil, though cold. A combination of a dry air mass, very little wind and a fair sky sent morning temperatures falling to freezing in the northern and western Hill Country. This final full day of winter will feel like the middle of winter with afternoon temperatures rising to the upper 50s to some low 60s under a partly cloudy to mostly sunny sky. The wind will come out of the northeast to east around 5 mph. More sunshine this afternoon helps warm to around 60° NEW BLOG: April showers: Here's the outlook for Central Texas Spring arrives Monday afternoon at 4:24 pm. Expect a mostly cloudy sky with most temperatures in the mid to upper 50s.Tuesday is the transition day with highs in the upper half of the 60s to low 70s. The moist flow from south winds will lead to a low chance of rain Tuesday afternoon/evening. For the fourth week running there will be a chance of showers Thursday afternoon, then showers and thunderstorms Thursday night to ...

Saving San Jose Cemetery I: Why the community is shouldering responsibility

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN)— Joaquin Rodriguez just found recently found out where his father was buried in Austin. His father, along with other relatives of Rodriguez, rests in the San Jose I Cemetery in East Austin."If you were low-income, and needed a place to put your relatives...this was known as this where you go," Rodriguez said. Joaquin Rodriguez leading cleanup at San Jose I Cemetery. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).That's why a few years ago, he founded the San Jose Montopolis Cemetery Association. It's a community group that works to maintain and preserve San Jose I and II Cemetery grounds. It has a lot of history and has been around since the early 1900s. It's where Latino and indigenous families have come to bury their loved ones.Neighbor uncovers grave marker, hidden by debris. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).Neighbors wheel debris off grave site. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).Neighbor fills wheel barrow with storm debris, during cemetery cleanup. (KXAN photos/Jake Sykes).The February 2023 winter stor...

Concert review: Tabea Zimmerman showcases the viola’s potential in Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

Do orchestras really need a conductor? The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra proves again and again that baton timekeeping isn’t the only tool to bring musicians together. This weekend, German violist Tabea Zimmermann partners with the orchestra while she plays her instrument, soaring with two relatively little-known works and Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, Op. 56, known as the Scottish Symphony. After opening the series in Northfield on Thursday, the orchestra performed at the Ordway, with its final performance on Sunday at Bethel University.The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony with Artistic Partner, violist Tabea Zimmermann, in March 2023. (Marco Borggreve)The viola is one of the most underappreciated of classical musical instruments. Rarely if ever playing the melodic line, it so often gets upstaged by the more showy violins and the larger, deeper cellos and bass. And yet, its middle tones are an essential part of the stri...

Colorado hospital leaders see continuing financial challenges in 2023: “We’re not out of the woods”

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 17:10:24 GMT

Colorado’s hospital systems aren’t expecting this financial year to be much better after a challenging 2022, though leaders said they have plans to try to bring expenses under control.Hospitals in the state had a combined profit margin on patient care of 4.7% in 2022, which was about half their margin in 2021, according to the Colorado Hospital Association. Counting investment losses, their total profit margin dropped to 1.5%, compared to about 14% in each of the previous three years.Julie Lonborg, vice president of communications and media relations at the Colorado Hospital Association, described the 2022 financial results as a blow to the industry. Hospitals need about a 4% margin to keep up with maintenance on their buildings and equipment, and with other costs of continuing to provide care, she said.“We have a whole lot of people below that,” she said.The Denver Post spoke to leaders from the state’s major hospital systems about how they plan to add...