Health insurance can be tremendously confusing, with its complexity, jargon and acronyms. But putting in a bit of time to learn what these health insurance terms mean can empower you to better understand what signing on to a plan might mean for your budget and your health.
Whether you're picking a plan for the first time, thinking of changing a plan, or want to see your options, NPR health correspondent, Selena Simmons-Duffin offers tips for browsing and choosing a health insurance plan. This episode is brought to Short Wave in conjunction with our colleagues at Life Kit.
What other tips and tricks would you like from Short Wave? E-mail us at shortwave@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Consider This from NPR - NPR Investigates: CTE, Desperate Patients, And The Hope For A Cure (Pt 2)
CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job.
But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.
In the second of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR's Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.
In the second of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR's Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Short Wave - Celebrate The Holidays Safely This Pandemic
Millions of Americans are planning to travel this week and gather inside for Thanksgiving — many in groups of 10 or more. At the same time, COVID-19 cases are rebounding. NPR correspondent Allison Aubrey's been talking to experts to find out how to gather in-person as safely as possible and minimize a new surge.
Read the CDC's tips on gathering for the holidays: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/celebrations.html
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Read the CDC's tips on gathering for the holidays: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/holidays/celebrations.html
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
NPR's Book of the Day - ‘The Island of Missing Trees’ uses, well, trees to chronicle generational trauma
Author Elif Shafak struggled at first with how to write her new book, The Island of Missing Trees. The story she wanted to tell is about a family from Cyprus, a Mediterranean island that was the center of a conflict in the 1970s, but she didn't want the story to be about tribalism or nationalism. Which is why, Shafak told NPR's Steve Inskeep, much of the story is told from the perspective of a fig tree
Consider This from NPR - NPR Investigates: CTE, Desperate Patients, And The Hope For A Cure (Pt 1)
CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a degenerative brain disease found in many former professional football and hockey players, for whom blows to the head have long been part of the job.
But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.
In the first of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR's Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
But those injuries also occur outside the world of pro sports. And as awareness of CTE has grown, so has a thriving market of dubious remedies marketed to everyday people who believe they are suffering from CTE — a disease that can't even be diagnosed until after death, through an autopsy of the brain.
In the first of two episodes, Sacha Pfeiffer of NPR's Investigative Team reports on some of those desperate patients and their hope for a cure.
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Out of Office’ considers ‘why’ companies want to bring back remote employees
The working world looks a lot different today than it did nearly two years ago, when the coronavirus pandemic sent many office staff to work from home indefinitely. Writers Anne Helen Peterson and Charlie Warzel take a look at what work, and our relationship to it, will look like going forward in their new book, Out of Office. NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with Peterson about why so many companies want their employees back in person. And, spoiler alert: it's not about productivity.
Short Wave - A Mission To Redirect An Asteroid
In movies, asteroids careening towards Earth confront determined humans with nuclear weapons to save the world! But a real NASA mission to change the course of an asteroid (one not hurtling towards Earth), the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), is about to launch.
NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce joins the show to talk about what it takes to pull off this mission and how it could potentially protect the Earth in the future from killer space rocks.
Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce joins the show to talk about what it takes to pull off this mission and how it could potentially protect the Earth in the future from killer space rocks.
Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Consider This from NPR - Living with Long COVID
For those living with long COVID, daily activities like going for a walk, washing the dishes, or being on a Zoom call can be incredibly draining.
These long-term effects of a COVID infection - called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, PASC, or more simply long COVID - have been a reality for many patients since the start of the pandemic.
While it is not known exactly how common long COVID is, it isn't rare. One study found that some 30% of participants across multiple age ranges reported persistent symptoms. For some, symptoms fade after a few months, while for others, long COVID feels like their new reality.
NPR's Mallory Yu has been reporting on long COVID and gathered the stories of patients who are desperate for answers.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
These long-term effects of a COVID infection - called post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, PASC, or more simply long COVID - have been a reality for many patients since the start of the pandemic.
While it is not known exactly how common long COVID is, it isn't rare. One study found that some 30% of participants across multiple age ranges reported persistent symptoms. For some, symptoms fade after a few months, while for others, long COVID feels like their new reality.
NPR's Mallory Yu has been reporting on long COVID and gathered the stories of patients who are desperate for answers.
In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.
Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Short Wave - Two Sides Of Guyana: A Green Champion And An Oil Producer
For Guyana the potential wealth from oil development was irresistible — even as the country faces rising seas. Today on the show, Emily Kwong talks to reporter Camila Domonoske about her trip to Guyana and how it's grappling with its role as a victim of climate change while it moves forward with drilling more oil.
For more of Camila's reporting and pictures from her visit, check out "Guyana is a poor country that was a green champion. Then Exxon discovered oil." <<https://n.pr/3nBLMHT>>
You can follow Emily on Twitter @EmilyKwong1234 and Camila @CamilaReads. Email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
For more of Camila's reporting and pictures from her visit, check out "Guyana is a poor country that was a green champion. Then Exxon discovered oil." <<https://n.pr/3nBLMHT>>
You can follow Emily on Twitter @EmilyKwong1234 and Camila @CamilaReads. Email Short Wave at ShortWave@NPR.org.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
NPR's Book of the Day - Murder! Space! James Bond! Chris Hadfield and Anthony Horowitz talk thrillers
This Friday, we're featuring two thrillers. First, astronaut Chris Hadfield talked with former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about his novel The Apollo Murders, which is set in the 70's around, you guessed it, the Apollo missions. It's got Soviet spies and secret space stations with machine guns mounted to the top. What more could a book need? Then a 2015 interview with NPR's Robert Siegel and author Anthony Horowitz about his James Bond novel Trigger Mortis, and what it's like giving a classic a 21st century twist.