A | The cost of health coverage through work jumped this year, in part because of inflation, according to a survey of U.S. employers.Premiums for both family and single plans climbed 7% after barely rising in 2022, according to a report Wednesday by KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.Later this fall, companies begin their annual coverage enrollment window for 2024, and health care experts say another price hike could be coming.“It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be another year of health care cost increases, at least at the level we’re seeing right now,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research for the Employee Benefit Research Institute.Employer-sponsored health insurance is the most common form of coverage in the United States. KFF says almost 153 million Americans have it. Companies generally pay most of the premium — 70% or more in many cases.That can soften the impact of price hikes on employees. Coverage costs also are taken out of paychecks before taxes, which helps mitigate the financial pinch workers may feel, noted Fronstin, who was not involved in the KFF study.KFF noted that premiums climbed roughly with wages and inflation. The wider economy has felt those two pressures for more than a year, and now they are starting to affect health care costs, said Gary Claxton, a senior vice president with KFF. He noted that there can be a delay because health care contracts can keep costs stable after prices start rising in other parts of the economy.Fronstin said health care provider consolidation also can drive up care costs, which ultimately affects premiums. He also thinks the U.S. health care system — with its limited capacity to treat people — is still catching up on providing care that was delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.“There’s only so much room for catch up,” he said. “I don’t believe colonoscopy centers are running 24/7 to catch up.”___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.。
B | On August 15, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET343 was en route from Sudan to Ethiopia when the aircraft’s two pilots fell asleep, according to the Daily Mail.,The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 aircraft was cruising at 37,000ft, when alerts were raised on the ground as the plane had approached the airport but did not start to descend.,Air Traffic Control unsuccessfully tried to contact the plane’s crew.,Sometime later, the alarm of the disconnected autopilot awoke the two pilots and they managed to land the plane safely.,The data confirms the incident, which shows that the plane flew over the runway and managed to make another approach when the pilots woke up.,"Deeply concerning incident at Africa's largest airline — Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 #ET343 was still at cruising altitude of 37,000ft by the time it reached destination Addis Ababa. Why hadn't it started to descend for landing? Both pilots were asleep,” Aviation analyst Alex Macheras commented the incident on Twitter.,Two and a half hours later, the plane left the airport for its next flight.,A similar incident occurred in April, when, according to reports, two pilots flying from New York to Rome with 250 passengers failed to get in touch with Air Traffic Control for ten minutes and had presumably fallen asleep.。
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