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Navigating the healthcare system in the United States can often feel like getting lost in a maze. What kind of doctor should I see? Who takes my insurance? What is a co-payment anyway?For this reason, Chris Hamby, an investigative journalist, has dedicated much of his five-year career at the New York Times to guiding readers through such dizzying questions. His latest article, published online this month, explores the complex topic of insurance bills.Last year, Hamby began investigating MultiPlan, a data company that partners with several major health insurance companies, including UnitedHealthcare, Cigna and Aetna. After a patient goes to an out-of-network medical provider, the insurer often uses MultiPlan to recommend the amount to reimburse the provider.Mr Hamby's investigation...

European leaders visit Israel, seeking restraint on IranDavid Cameron, the British foreign secretary, acknowledged that Israel seemed certain to retaliate against Iran, despite calls for restraint from Israel's allies.“It's clear that the Israelis are making the decision to act,” Cameron told the BBC shortly before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We hope they do it in a way that does as little as possible to aggravate the situation.”Israel's allies have joined other world leaders in repeatedly pressuring Netanyahu to avoid taking any action that could increase tensions with Iran, which fired more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend. Israel's war cabinet has met several times since then to discuss when and how to respond, and official...

“Have an abortion with me,” says a Brooklyn single mother named Sunni as she twirls around her kitchen to the sound of jazz piano, before walking TikTok viewers through the steps she took to end her pregnancy at home.With states expanding abortion restrictions and the issue likely to be at the forefront of presidential elections, women are creating videos on social media describing their abortions and sharing practical information on how to get one.Sunni explained to viewers that she wanted information as she was planning the abortion. “This is the video I was looking for,” she said.The reaction to his video, which has been viewed more than 400,000 times and sparked comments of both commiseration and condemnation, shows how deeply personal and controversial the issue remains in the run-up...

For days, Israel's closest Western allies have implored the country's wartime government not to risk triggering a wider war by responding too forcefully to last weekend's barrage of Iranian missiles and drones. And top German and British diplomats delivered this message in person to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.But Netanyahu emerged from those talks determined that his country would not bow to any outside pressure in choosing its response. Before a cabinet meeting he declared that Israel "will do whatever is necessary to defend itself" and warned allies that "we will make our own decisions," according to his office.British Foreign Secretary David Cameron acknowledged shortly before meeting the prime minister that Israel was unlikely to heed the ...

A pill to be taken once a week. An injection given at home once a month. Also a vaccination administered in a clinic every six months.In the next 5 to 10 years, these options may be available to prevent or treat HIV. Instead of drugs that must be taken daily, scientists are moving towards longer-acting alternatives – perhaps even a future where HIV might require attention only twice a day. year, inconceivable in the darkest decades of the epidemic.“This period represents the next wave of innovation, new products are meeting people's needs, particularly in prevention, in ways we've never had before,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the HIV prevention organization AVAC .Long-acting therapies can obviate the need to remember to take a daily pill to prevent or treat HIV...

In 1811, a 12-year-old girl named Mary Anning discovered a fossil on the beach near her home in southwest England: the first scientifically identified specimen of an ichthyosaur, a dolphin-like oceanic reptile from the time of the dinosaurs. . Two centuries later, less than 50 miles away, an 11-year-old girl named Ruby Reynolds found a fossil of another ichthyosaur. It appears to be the largest marine reptile known to science.Ms. Reynolds, now 15, and her father, Justin Reynolds, have been fossil hunting for 12 years near their home in Braunton, England. During a family trip in May 2020 to the village of Blue Anchor along the Severn River estuary, they came across a piece of fossilized bone embedded in a rock.“We were both excited because we had never found such a large piece of fossil...

In a time when the headlines are dominated by wars and a divisive presidential campaign, the magazine-world rivalry between The Atlantic and The New Yorker doesn’t amount to much.So you might have missed it when, on April 2, The Atlantic beat The New Yorker in three big categories at the 2024 National Magazine Awards.But to Rusty Foster, who chronicles the media industry and internet culture in his daily newsletter, Today in Tabs, The Atlantic’s victory was big news.Shortly after the awards ceremony, which took place at Terminal 5 in Manhattan, Mr. Foster tapped out a fanciful report for his audience of media obsessives. Under the headline “Shutout at the TK Corral,” he wrote that David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, “solemnly folded up and ate each of his prepared speeches as he w...

The United States plans to impose new sanctions on Iran in the coming days to punish it for attacks on Israel over the weekend, US officials said on Tuesday.Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, said in a statement that the sanctions will target Iran's "missile and drone program" and entities that support the country's military groups.“These new sanctions and other measures will continue to apply sustained pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capability and effectiveness and address the full range of its problematic behaviors,” Sullivan said.Sullivan did not specify how sanctions might undermine Iran's weapons programs, but a Treasury official, who declined to be named to discuss private deliberations, said the United States was looking for ways to cut off...

Dr. David Egilman, a physician and expert witness who, over a 35-year period, testified in nearly 600 corporate wrongdoing trials, winning billions of dollars in awards for victims and their survivors, died April 2 at his home in New York. Foxborough, Massachusetts. He was 71 years old.The cause was cardiac arrest, his son Alex said.Many medical experts have a sideline in court, offering their informed opinions on the witness stand and helping to validate or undermine plaintiffs' claims. But few make it a career-long passion like Dr. Egilman has. He taught at Brown University and ran a private practice, but spent most of his time consulting and testifying in as many as 15 cases a year.He did more than just give opinions from the gallery. A tenacious researcher, he dug up incrimina...

Israel's difficult choices on Iran.