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Having a baby isn’t cheap, but sometimes, even the delivery alone can be a crushing burden on families. According to a new survey, even moms who are insured can end up saddled with medical debt that adds to the financial stress of growing a family. What To Expect, a website that provides new and expecting parents with resources, surveyed 3,285 women on their experiences with labor and delivery charges. The research found that one in four moms have gone into debt due to the costs associated with giving birth. The survey found that, on average, moms are leaving the hospital with around $3,000 in debt. And that’s before the baby expensesdiapers, formula, daycare!start piling up. According to the respondents, even women with insurance are ending up with hefty tabs from the hospital. Almost half (48%) with self-purchased insurance plans say theyve gone into debt due to the costs. Almost a third (32%) of moms with employer-provided plans had the same experience. Furthermore, 18% of moms with Medicaid ended up with debt from out-of-pocket labor and delivery expenses, even though Medicaid is designed for low-income families. While worrying about how you might pay off a rather large and unexpected hospital bill is something a lot of families aren’t prepared for, new moms have another consuming task (aside from trying to figure out how to care for a new human 24/7): the weight of deciding when to go back to work. Given there is no federally mandated maternity leave that ensures moms have time to rest, recover, and bond with their new babies in the U.S., for many, a return to work happens quickly. According to a 2024 report from the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, one in four new mothers go back to work just 10 days after giving birth out of financial necessity. Aside from the strain on their bodies, which are still recovering, that early return isn’t great for new moms’ mental health, either. Women who return to work before the 12-week mark are at an increased risk for developing postpartum mental health challenges, like postpartum depression, according to a 2021 study from Harvards T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Women who have at least 12 weeks of paid leave were 30% less likely to report depressive symptoms, the study found. In most other countries, returning to work almost immediately is practically unheard of. In fact, the U.S. practically stands alone in its lack of mandated leave for new mothers. On average, moms receive 19 weeks of paid maternity leave, according to a 2023 study of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, including the United States. The United States is the only country of OECDs 38 member countries that does not guarantee any paid maternity leave.
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Star Treka franchise that famously promotes the philosophy Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations”is being accused of “becoming” too woke. Last week, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller shared a post from the X account End Wokeness that featured a short clip from the premiere episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Tragic. But its not too late for @paramountplus to save the franchise. Step 1: Reconcile with @WilliamShatner and give him total creative control. https://t.co/HRMDcYeBnU— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 16, 2026 The clip showed cast members Tricia Black (playing Lt. Rork), Gina Yashere (Lura Thok) and Holly Hunter (Nahla Ake). The caption read: Star Trek 2026 Beyond parody What sparked the vitriol? Three women talking. Miller went on to describe the current state of the Star Trek franchise as tragic and suggested that Paramount+ should bring back 94-year-old William Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek from 19661969, offering him full creative control. On Monday, Shatner responded. I am so on the same page with you @StephenM ! he wrote on X. I am so on the same page with you @StephenM! The fact that they have not cure Hyperopia by the 32rd Century is an abysmal oversight on the writers!Also @paramountplus needs to up the budget because Im sure that a well oiled organization like Starfleet in the distant https://t.co/96MtYUGGWf— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) January 19, 2026 The fact that they have not cure Hyperopia by the 32rd Century is an abysmal oversight on the writers! he joked. The sarcasm clearly went right over Millers head, who followed up with another post. Paramount screwed up royally when they decided to kill off Kirk in Star Trek Generations, he wrote. @WilliamShatner disagreed strenuously but was a team player and out-acted everyone in the film. But its not too late for Paramount to make amends with Shatner and save the franchise, he urged. Do it! Paramount screwed up royally when they decided to kill off Kirk in Star Trek Generations. @WilliamShatner disagreed strenuously but was a team player and out-acted everyone in the film. But its not too late for Paramount to make amends with Shatner and save the franchise. Do it! https://t.co/YORaoM0JEV— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) January 19, 2026 Many Star Trek fans were quick to point out Millers anti-woke hero is the same actor who famously took part in the first interracial kiss in U.S. television history, during Star Treks original run in the 1960s. They also pointed to Millers fundamental misunderstanding of the show, whose progressive values have long been light-years ahead of its time. Fans have recently shared their concerns across Reddit forums about what Trump ally David Ellisons takeover at Paramount might mean for the Star Trek franchise. Do you think the shows will continue to be liberal/socialist filled with science, diplomacy, democratic solutions, and human rights? one user mused. Will they devolve into combat based popcorn fair? Will they straight up become positive analogs for the current administration? Or racial allegories in the bad way? [Photo: John Medland/Paramount+] Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, created by Gaia Violo, premiered last week on Paramount+. It has since become the target of review bombing from those accusing a show about aliens of being too woke. Earlier in the month, Elon Musk also shared a post featuring the same clip. He wrote: Turns out they banned Ozempic and LASIK in the future lol. Actress Tricia Black responded on Instagram with the caption, Ive seen this exact same comment probably 100 times already so whatever but its nuts that the richest man in [the world] felt the need to steal the joke. It doesnt get to me because I am comfortable in my skin most days but this one made me laugh. She then quoted the shows original creator, Gene Roddenberry, who famously said: “Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.
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The next time youve got an itchy throat and a stuffy nose, Amazon wants you to describe your symptoms to an AI chatbot deputized to do medicine. On Wednesday, Amazon announced the launch of the new feature, inviting users who subscribe to its healthcare service to interact with an AI assistant for personalized medical advice. The chatbot is available now in the One Medical app, which patients can use to schedule appointments, message their primary care provider and access their medical records. The U.S. health care experience is fragmented, with each provider seeing only parts of your health puzzle, Amazon Health Services Senior Vice President Neil Lindsay said in the announcement. Health AI in the One Medical app brings together all the pieces of your personal health information to give you a more complete picturehelping you understand your health, and supporting you in getting the care you need to get and stay well. Amazon says that its new Health AI assistant can provide personalized insights that use a patients lab results, medical history, medication information and other records to paint a full picture of their health. In the app, Health AI will explain lab results, offer advice about symptoms, treatments, and other questions and help patients book appointments and renew medications. The AI will see you now The One Medical AI assistant is powered by Amazons Bedrock AI models and follows similar health-focused AI chatbots from major AI companies. Earlier this month, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, which similarly synthesizes its users medical history to provide tailored advice. Days later, Anthropic introduced Claude for Healthcare, an AI chatbot that can analyze a users health data to help them make sense of test results and prep questions for a doctors appointment. Unlike its competitors, Amazon is already deeply invested in the business of healthcare. The retail giant jumped into the healthcare space in 2020 by launching its own online pharmacy, an offering that evolved from the companys previous acquisition of health startup PillPack. Two years later, Amazon bought primary care and telehealth provider One Medical for $3.9 billion, further expanding its grand ambitions to become an established medical provider. Amazon kept the One Medical branding and now operates a network of locations across 19 major U.S. cities, with a telehealth service that reaches subscribers beyond those locations. In 2023, Amazon tied One Medical into its Amazon Prime memberships, offering the health care subscription at a discounted $9 per month to Prime users. A One Medical membership covers the cost of on-demand virtual care through the service, including telehealth appointments, and simplified care for common problems, like cold and flu symptoms or allergies. Amazon frames its new Health AI chatbot as a complementary tool that isnt designed to replace the human relationship between patient and provider. Thats for the best, considering that AI assistants have a very patchy record when it comes to providing safe, accurate health advice. Googles often-questionable AI overviews, which appear at the top of search results, have served up potentially dangerous misinformation when prompted with health queries like what is the normal range for liver blood tests. Google isnt alone: a recent study from Mt. Sinais Icahn School of Medicine found that popular AI chatbots are prone to hallucinating when it comes to medical information, integrating false information and confidently giving descriptions of treatments and conditions that dont exist.
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