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Sportscaster Greg Gumbel dies from cancer at age 78CSharpCorner Announces 2025 Industry-Leading Conference Lineup to Drive Education and Innovation in Software DevelopmentFlag football scours nation with talent camps to uncover next wave of stars DENVER (AP) — So you're the most valuable player of that annual Thanksgiving Day backyard flag football game. Or played tackle football on any level. Or ran track. Or dabbled in basketball. Or toyed with any sport, really. Pat Graham, The Associated Press Nov 26, 2024 2:17 PM Nov 26, 2024 2:20 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message This photo provided by USA Football shows U.S. National Team flag football player Bruce Mapp playing against Brazil at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships at the Pajulahti Olympic Training Center in Lahti, Finland, Aug. 27, 2024. (Lester Barnes/USA Football via AP) DENVER (AP) — So you're the most valuable player of that annual Thanksgiving Day backyard flag football game. Or played tackle football on any level. Or ran track. Or dabbled in basketball. Or toyed with any sport, really. Well, this may be just for you: USA Football is holding talent identification camps all over the country to find that next flag football star. It's “America’s Got Talent” meets “American Idol,” with the stage being the field and the grand prize a chance to compete for a spot on a national team. Because it’s never too early to start planning for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where flag football will make its Summer Games debut. Know this, though — it's not an easy team to make. The men's and women's national team rosters are at “Dream Team” status given the men’s side has captured six of the last seven world championships and the women three in a row. To remain on top, the sport's national governing body is scouring every football field, park, track, basketball court and gym to find hidden talent to cultivate. USA Football has organized camps and tryouts from coast to coast for anyone ages 11 to 23. There are more than a dozen sites set up so far, ranging from Dallas (Sunday) to Chicago (Dec. 14) to Tampa (March 29) to Los Angeles (TBD) and the Boston area (April 27), where it will be held at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. The organization has already partnered with the NFL on flag football initiatives and programs. The numbers have been through the roof, with engagement on social media platforms increasing by 86% since flag football was announced as an Olympic invitational sport in October 2023 . The participation of boys and girls ages 6 to 17 in flag football last year peaked at more than 1.6 million, according to USA Football research. “We pride ourselves on elevating the gold standard across the sport,” said Eric Mayes, the managing director of the high performance and national teams for USA Football. “We want to be the best in the world — and stay the best in the world.” Flag football was one of five new sports added to the LA28 program. The already soaring profile of American football only figures to be enhanced by an Olympic appearance. Imagine, say, a few familiar faces take the field, too. Perhaps even NFL stars such as Tyreek Hill or Patrick Mahomes, maybe even past pro football greats donning a flag belt for a country to which they may have ties. Soon after flag football's inclusion, there was chatter of NFL players possibly joining in on the fun. Of course, there are logistical issues to tackle before their inclusion at the LA Olympics, which open July 14, 2028. Among them, training camp, because the Olympics will be right in the middle of it. The big question is this: Will owners permit high-priced players to duck out for a gold-medal pursuit? No decisions have yet been made on the status of NFL players for the Olympics. For now, it's simply about growing the game. There are currently 13 states that sanction girls flag football as a high school varsity sport. Just recently, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles helped pave the way to get it adopted in Pennsylvania. Around the world, it's catching on, too. The women's team from Japan took third at the recent word championships, while one of the best players on the planet is Mexico quarterback Diana Flores . “Could flag football globally become the new soccer? That’s something to aspire to," said Stephanie Kwok , the NFL's vice president of flag football. This type of flag football though, isn't your Thanksgiving Day game with family and friends. There's a learning curve. And given the small roster sizes, versatility is essential. Most national team members need to be a version of Colorado’s two-way standout and Heisman hopeful Travis Hunter. Forget bump-and-run coverage, too, because there's no contact. None. That took some adjusting for Mike Daniels, a defensive back out of West Virginia who earned a rookie minicamp invitation with the Cleveland Browns in 2017. “If a receiver is running around, I’m thinking, ‘OK, I can kind of bump him here and there and nudge him,’” Daniels explained. “They’re like, ‘No, you can’t.’ I’m just like, ‘So I’m supposed to let this guy just run?!’ I really rebelled at the idea at first. But you learn.” The competition for an Olympic roster spot is going to be fierce because only 10 players are expected to make a squad. The best 10 will earn it, too, as credentials such as college All-American or NFL All-Pro take a backseat. “I would actually love" seeing NFL players try out, said Daniels, who's also a personal trainer in Miami. “I’m not going to let you just waltz in here, thinking, ‘I played NFL football for five years. I’m popular. I have a huge name.’ I’m still better than you and I'm going to prove it — until you prove otherwise.” Around the house, Bruce Mapp constantly swivels his hips when turning a hallway corner or if his daughter tries to reach for a hug. It’s his way of working on avoiding a “defender” trying to snare the flag. That approach has earned the receiver out of Coastal Carolina four gold medals with USA Football. The 31-year-old fully plans on going for more gold in Los Angeles. “You grow up watching Usain Bolt (win gold) and the ‘Redeem Team’ led by Kobe Bryant win a gold medal, you're always thinking, ‘That's insane.' Obviously, you couldn't do it in your sport, because I played football," said Mapp, who owns a food truck in the Dallas area. "With the Olympics approaching, that (gold medal) is what my mind is set on." It's a common thought, which is why everything — including talent camps — starts now. “Everybody thinks, ‘Yeah, the U.S. just wins,’” Daniels said. “But we work hard all the time. We don’t just walk in. We don’t just get off the bus thinking, ‘We’re going to beat people.’” ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL Pat Graham, The Associated Press See a typo/mistake? Have a story/tip? This has been shared 0 times 0 Shares Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Get your daily Victoria news briefing Email Sign Up More Football (CFL) Bombers GM Walters sees no need to blow up roster despite another Grey Cup loss Nov 26, 2024 2:11 PM Calgary Stampeders acquire quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. from B.C. Lions Nov 26, 2024 11:06 AM Former Tiger-Cats player, general manager Joe Zuger dead at 84 Nov 26, 2024 7:58 AM

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week, Bill Belichick and a handful of his former assistants with the New England Patriots. Matt Patricia, Michael Lombardi, Josh McDaniels, to name a few, men with whom he had won Super Bowls, all of them out of work. They'd chat over Zoom, and go through each NFL game, as they once did in Foxboro, as only they could. Teams. Trends. Salaries. Schematic shifts. Stuff only they knew to look for, questions only they knew to ask, a common language and way of thinking, once the envy of the NFL and beyond, from other sports to business schools, now valued less around the league. The subtext was unspoken, but understood: Which NFL teams might make a coaching change this year? And of those teams, which of them might be interested in a 72-year-old, eight-time Super Bowl champion? And of those teams, which would Belichick want most? According to sources with direct knowledge, the group deemed that the Chicago Bears were probably the most attractive job, but that team brass was unlikely to consider Belichick. The group expects the same thing that most around the league do: that the Bears will go offense, hoping to give quarterback a chance at a career, probably targeting Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. The New York Jets were a nonstarter; Belichick had issues with owner Woody Johnson back in 2000, before Johnson officially bought the team, and he had been critical this past season in his media roles with Johnson's horrific stewardship. Maybe the Giants, where he had spent the '80s, could work, but Belichick knew that it would be a rebuild, with the New York press at his heels. Plus, he believes the team would do best to retain its current coach, Brian Daboll. Dallas was a potential spot -- nobody can take a collection of talent and turn it into a team like Belichick -- but nobody knew if owner Jerry Jones would move on from Mike McCarthy, and if he did, if he'd want to hand over the team to Belichick. Jacksonville was another potential landing spot, but was it the right one? On his podcast, Lombardi took a shot at Tony Khan, son of owner Shad Khan who for years has run an analytics department emblematic of the problems with the current NFL. Additionally, there wasn't a lot of back-channel communication between anyone close to Belichick and owners; the league and three teams are almost two years into battling a discrimination lawsuit by Brian Flores. Belichick's feelings toward the NFL have shifted he has told confidants. Look at the past year. Robert Kraft, whose life and legacy was forever altered by Belichick, fired him in January. Only one out of seven teams with openings showed interested in hiring him. The Falcons interviewed him twice, but when it came time for the team's brass to rank choices, Belichick failed to land in anyone's top three candidates -- in part, , because Kraft helped torpedo his chances. Weeks later in February, "The Dynasty," the Kraft-owned Patriots , launched on Apple and minimized Belichick's role in the team's historic run so roundly that former Patriots players spoke out against it. Belichick was entertaining in his myriad media roles, but the league seemed to move on without him. Owners spoke of him respectfully, but not desirably. A few months ago, Belichick started to bring up college programs on the Zooms. He was spending a lot of time at Washington, where his son Stephen is in his first year as the Huskies' defensive coordinator. His former offensive coordinator in New England, Bill O'Brien, and longtime assistant, Berj Najarian, are at Boston College. Another former assistant, Joe Judge, served as a senior analyst at Ole Miss. It reinforced and reaffirmed that there was another option out there. At first, the image of Belichick as a college coach made no sense. It was hard to picture Belichick sitting in a teenager's living room, in a hoodie with jagged sleeves, delivering his recruiting pitch. Nick Saban, one of Belichick's longest and closest friends, had retired from college football in large part because of the transfer portal and NIL. Tom Brady did an impression on television of Belichick last weekend: "Listen, you really wanna come here? We don't really want you anyway. I guess you could come. We'll figure out if you can play." But something about ending his career by not chasing Don Shula's NFL wins record, but instead on campus, appealed to Belichick. When he agreed to terms with North Carolina, it was not only because of a new challenge after coaching only in the NFL since 1975, at a school where his father, Steve, had worked when Bill was a boy, and not only because his future in the pros was unclear. It was because, in the words of a confidant, Belichick is "disgusted" in what he believes the NFL had become. "This is a big f--- you to the NFL," another Belichick confidant says. cared about football's history, and his place in it. And he has always cared about leading a true football program. Unlike Bill Walsh's philosophy, it was not primarily based on a playbook; indeed, Belichick's schematic ideology is his lack of ideology, tailored and adapted to situation and circumstance. He has always wanted to build a team -- a true team -- despite the cultural and financial forces conspiring against that idea and ideal. What became known as the Patriot Way was rooted in more than mutual sacrifice and mastery of situational football, ruthless decision-making and Brady's greatness. It was about teaching and education. Only Belichick's Patriots had full-team meetings in which players were quizzed not only on the opponent's statistics and playmakers, but the résumés of all of the assistant coaches. It was a football laboratory, augmented by some of the greatest players in NFL history. Belichick was raised on campuses and has loved helping shape young minds. In April 2006, I watched him deliver the annual Fusco Distinguished Lecture at Southern Connecticut State University, on a stage that had also featured Colin Powell, Madeleine Albright and Christopher Reeve, among others. Like many, I worried that it would be a two-hour version of his news conferences. But he was in his element, relaxed and energized, speaking to students as they prepared to enter the real world. He told them to chase not money, but a job that was a continuation of a passion. One of the proudest moments of his life was when he passed on a career in finance and moved to Baltimore to do whatever the Colts asked of him. When Belichick was fired by Kraft, despite it initially being presented as a mutual parting -- Kraft later cited trust and an eagerness to reclaim organizational power as factors -- he knew that his next job was not going to resemble the one he'd held for more than two decades. The NFL had moved away from the coach-centric model that Belichick learned under Bill Parcells. There are more layers now. Belichick insisted to the Falcons and made clear to other teams with openings last year that he wasn't seeking the total control of football operations he enjoyed for most of his head coaching career, both in Cleveland and in New England. He was willing to work with existing staff, whether it was Falcons general manager Terry Fontenot or Commanders general manager Adam Peters or Jerry Jones or Howie Roseman, if the Cowboys or Eagles, respectively, had decided to change coaches. But something about it was always hard to buy -- and owners didn't. It wasn't that Belichick was disingenuous or too set in his ways; it was that if you hire Belichick, you hire him to do it his way. Belichick's system is him, from his player procurement program to contract incentives to the types of players he drafts. Because so much flowed out of his mind and because he almost always was the ultimate decision-maker, the Patriots were able to withstand the losses of key players and coaches -- everyone except Brady. How would Belichick, who ran a thin operation in New England, without many layers, handle running a team with a huge infrastructure? Was Belichick, who has had his share of player-evaluation whiffs but has also drafted the greatest quarterback and tight end ever, along with Hall of Fame defensive tackle and several others who will join him in Canton, really going to abide by the philosophies of someone like Fontenot or Bears general manager Ryan Poles, if Chicago had hired Belichick after this year? "Listening to Fontenot discuss drafting systems last January, as if he knew it all, bothered him," a Belichick confidant says. All of those things were on his mind this fall. He told confidants that Shula's record mattered to him, but it wasn't the essential thing. It wasn't why he has worked hours that have come with a steep personal price. He has always competed as if his self-worth was tied to the result. Losses took on a life of their own. Imagine the throttled rage inside him all spring after a group of men who routinely botch their most important hire not only mostly ignored him but gloated about it, telling ESPN that he was "voted off the island." He never forgets. Belichick knew that he'd have to compromise if he got another NFL job, maybe even more than the year before, and also knew that he faced a league that was skeptical of him. If he didn't fix his new team right away, he'd be dealing with a media narrative for the third straight year in coaching that he'd lost his fastball. College coaches have many headaches -- they essentially re-recruit their players daily -- but Belichick came to believe that he'd have the space to run his program, winning or losing on his terms, all he has ever asked for. He'll have what he had in New England: He'll be the football czar. He knows there are politics, the way there are politics in the NFL, and challenges to building a team, but they feel manageable and worth the risk. Says a source with knowledge of his thinking: "I'll go be the highest draw in college football, and will have the greatest coach in the ACC, instead of you guys who don't want [him] anymore because there are people who don't deserve to be empowered. ... Everyone is running away from college football. I think Bill thinks this landscape is better for him. ... More transactional and less relational. In his mind, this is better for me." Maybe the signs were there a month ago, when Belichick told "The Pat McAfee Show" of the horror stories of answering asinine questions from owners. He told a confidant within the past week that he's "tired of the stupidness" of the NFL. Unlike Brady, Belichick has always embraced his darker side, with actions more often than words, and made no secret of his grievances. He turned the postgame handshake into a spectator sport. He seethed at the piousness around the league after Spygate. After Deflategate, he walked out of a league meeting when commissioner Roger Goodell spoke. And then, after his unquestioned greatness was suddenly questioned and became talk-show fodder for two years -- How good is he without Brady? -- he watched owners display abject indifference to his services. "He's disgusted," a confidant says. If we've learned anything about Belichick over the years, it's that he'll often do the unconventional thing -- and that when at a crossroads, he will take control of his career. legendary journalist David Halberstam wanted to write a book about Belichick. They knew each other casually. Belichick respected Halberstam but initially was cool to the idea; it would go against every fiber of his being if he turned the spotlight on himself. Halberstam rethought the pitch and gave it another shot: "I suggested that there might be a book in the education of a coach, especially since the most important teacher in his life was his father, Steve -- a coach's coach," Halberstam later wrote. "It was an idea that interested him, and eventually he agreed to cooperate." After Belichick had become the first coach to win three Super Bowls in four years, Halberstam spent more time with him than any reporter to that point, working on what would be an authorized biography. Later in 2005, "The Education of a Coach" was published. Halberstam hit the media circuit, promoting the book, and on a Boston radio show, he was asked, "Will [Belichick] ever get sick of this?" At the time, Belichick was 53 years old. He had yet to be busted for Spygate. He had yet to coach a team to within a minute of an undefeated season. Had yet to tell a documentarian that he'd never coach into his 70s, then blow past it, knowing deep inside that he needed the game more than it needed him. He had yet to draft , , , and had yet to win 11 games with Matt Cassel, had yet to deploy the "Baltimore" and "Raven" formations, had yet to pass Deflategate into Brady's lap, had yet to send into the final seconds of Super Bowl XLIX, had yet to look up at a Super Bowl LI scoreboard that read 28-3, had yet to curtail access for Alex Guerrero, had yet to be called the "biggest f---ing in my life" by Kraft, and had yet to win a sixth Super Bowl. He had yet to watch his daughter, Amanda, coach lacrosse at Holy Cross, had yet to watch Stephen coach at Washington. "He's really a coach and a teacher," Halberstam told the hosts. "I mean, you could almost see him, when this is done, saying, OK, I've ... you know, if he's done it and won X rings, saying OK, I'm going to go and teach at an Ivy League school or something like that. I'm going to do something smaller, without as much pressure." And without the NFL, which he left before it could leave him. Again.Adventures on special teams made the Washington-Dallas showdown a clumsy affair, yet Joe Davis and Greg Olsen saw to it that the broadcast of the chaotic finish was pure gold. After Terry McLaurin weaved his way past five defenders for an 86-yard touchdown catch from Jayden Daniels to cut the Cowboys lead to 27-26 with 21 seconds left, Fox's No. 2 broadcast crew captured the chaos before admonishing the audience not to count on anything as a certainty on this helter-skelter afternoon. "Lightning strikes twice in Washington!" Davis shouted in an homage to Daniels' 52-yard Hail Mary to Noah Brown that stunned the Bears last month. "They dropped 11 guys in coverage," Olsen marveled. "If they just tackle him inbounds the game is over. I don't even know what to say. I'm absolutely speechless." Not for long he wasn't. Olsen quickly cautioned the audience that "Automatic" Austin Siebert had already missed an extra point along with a field goal Sunday in his return from a right hip injury. "Before anyone in Washington gets too fired up, remember, we've seen a missed PAT already," Olsen said. "Yeah, you hold your breath with anything special teams-related on this day," Davis agreed. After all, this was the first game in NFL history to feature two kickoff returns for touchdowns, two errant extra points and a blocked punt. In the 41-point fourth quarter that erased the game's snoozer status, Washington allowed KaVontae Turpin's 99-yard kickoff return for a score. Earlier, the Cowboys missed a field goal and saw another one blocked along with a punt. Sure enough, the snap was low ... the hold was better ... "It is no good!" Davis hollered. "And the worst special teams day in history has a fitting finish!" Actually, no. More ruckus remained. Siebert's onside kick bounced twice in front of safety Juanyeh Thomas, who gathered it in and returned it 43 yards for Dallas' second kickoff return for a touchdown. If Thomas takes a knee short of the goal line, he effectively seals the Cowboys' win. Instead, the score, while pushing Dallas' lead to 34-26, also left enough time for Daniels and the Commanders for a shot at yet another miracle touchdown. Austin Ekeler returned the kickoff to the Washington 36 and after a short gain, Daniels' Hail Mary was intercepted by Israel Mukuamu as time expired. And that's how what Davis called the "worst special teams day in NFL history" came to an end. "What a wild special teams moment of blocked punts, kicks, kickoff returns, blocked field goals," Commanders coach Dan Quinn said. In keeping with the not-so-special-teams theme, there were several foibles in the kicking game across the NFL in Week 12, where the Broncos gave up a 34-yard pass completion on a fake punt that Denver coach Sean Payton swore the team saw coming — and not as it was unfolding, either, but five days earlier. "We met Tuesday as a staff. It wasn't a matter of if, it was when they were going to run a fake punt," Payton said. "You're struggling as a team like this, we had it on the keys to victory, so credit them, they executed it." Thanks to AJ Cole's 34-yard pass to linebacker Divine Deablo that set up a second-quarter field goal, the reeling Raiders took a 13-9 advantage into the locker room, just their second halftime lead of the season. In the second half, the Raiders succumbed to surging rookie QB Bo Nix and veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton in their 29-19 loss. That's seven straight losses for the Raiders, their longest skid in a decade. The Broncos (7-5), who blew a chance to beat the Chiefs in Week 10 when their 35-yard field goal try was blocked as time ran out, also allowed a 59-yard kickoff return that led to Las Vegas' only touchdown Sunday. The Texans (7-5) lost for the third time in four games after Ka'imi Fairbairn shanked a 28-yard field goal try that would have tied the Titans just after the two-minute warning. Like the Broncos, the Vikings (9-2) overcame a special teams blunder and escaped Soldier Field with a 30-27 overtime win against the Bears after allowing Chicago (4-7) to recover an onside kick with 21 seconds left. Caleb Williams followed with a 27-yard pass to D.J. Moore to set up Cairo Santos' tying 48-yard field goal as the fourth-quarter clock hit zeros. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Mailbag: Why the Hotline is tough on Washington, Big Ten TV matters, options for the Pac-12, the SEC and the CFP and more

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Renuka Rayasam | (TNS) KFF Health News In April, just 12 weeks into her pregnancy, Kathleen Clark was standing at the receptionist window of her OB-GYN’s office when she was asked to pay $960, the total the office estimated she would owe after she delivered. Clark, 39, was shocked that she was asked to pay that amount during this second prenatal visit. Normally, patients receive the bill after insurance has paid its part, and for pregnant women that’s usually only when the pregnancy ends. It would be months before the office filed the claim with her health insurer. Clark said she felt stuck. The Cleveland, Tennessee, obstetrics practice was affiliated with a birthing center where she wanted to deliver. Plus, she and her husband had been wanting to have a baby for a long time. And Clark was emotional, because just weeks earlier her mother had died. “You’re standing there at the window, and there’s people all around, and you’re trying to be really nice,” recalled Clark, through tears. “So, I paid it.” On online baby message boards and other social media forums , pregnant women say they are being asked by their providers to pay out-of-pocket fees earlier than expected. The practice is legal, but patient advocacy groups call it unethical. Medical providers argue that asking for payment up front ensures they get compensated for their services. How frequently this happens is hard to track because it is considered a private transaction between the provider and the patient. Therefore, the payments are not recorded in insurance claims data and are not studied by researchers. Patients, medical billing experts, and patient advocates say the billing practice causes unexpected anxiety at a time of already heightened stress and financial pressure. Estimates can sometimes be higher than what a patient might ultimately owe and force people to fight for refunds if they miscarry or the amount paid was higher than the final bill. Up-front payments also create hurdles for women who may want to switch providers if they are unhappy with their care. In some cases, they may cause women to forgo prenatal care altogether, especially in places where few other maternity care options exist. It’s “holding their treatment hostage,” said Caitlin Donovan, a senior director at the Patient Advocate Foundation . Medical billing and women’s health experts believe OB-GYN offices adopted the practice to manage the high cost of maternity care and the way it is billed for in the U.S. When a pregnancy ends, OB-GYNs typically file a single insurance claim for routine prenatal care, labor, delivery, and, often, postpartum care. That practice of bundling all maternity care into one billing code began three decades ago, said Lisa Satterfield, senior director of health and payment policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists . But such bundled billing has become outdated, she said. Previously, pregnant patients had been subject to copayments for each prenatal visit, which might lead them to skip crucial appointments to save money. But the Affordable Care Act now requires all commercial insurers to fully cover certain prenatal services. Plus, it’s become more common for pregnant women to switch providers, or have different providers handle prenatal care, labor, and delivery — especially in rural areas where patient transfers are common. Some providers say prepayments allow them to spread out one-time payments over the course of the pregnancy to ensure that they are compensated for the care they do provide, even if they don’t ultimately deliver the baby. “You have people who, unfortunately, are not getting paid for the work that they do,” said Pamela Boatner, who works as a midwife in a Georgia hospital. While she believes women should receive pregnancy care regardless of their ability to pay, she also understands that some providers want to make sure their bill isn’t ignored after the baby is delivered. New parents might be overloaded with hospital bills and the costs of caring for a new child, and they may lack income if a parent isn’t working, Boatner said. In the U.S., having a baby can be expensive. People who obtain health insurance through large employers pay an average of nearly $3,000 out-of-pocket for pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker . In addition, many people are opting for high-deductible health insurance plans, leaving them to shoulder a larger share of the costs. Of the 100 million U.S. people with health care debt, 12% attribute at least some of it to maternity care, according to a 2022 KFF poll . Families need time to save money for the high costs of pregnancy, childbirth, and child care, especially if they lack paid maternity leave, said Joy Burkhard , CEO of the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health, a Los Angeles-based policy think tank. Asking them to prepay “is another gut punch,” she said. “What if you don’t have the money? Do you put it on credit cards and hope your credit card goes through?” Calculating the final costs of childbirth depends on multiple factors, such as the timing of the pregnancy , plan benefits, and health complications, said Erin Duffy , a health policy researcher at the University of Southern California’s Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. The final bill for the patient is unclear until a health plan decides how much of the claim it will cover, she said. But sometimes the option to wait for the insurer is taken away. During Jamie Daw’s first pregnancy in 2020, her OB-GYN accepted her refusal to pay in advance because Daw wanted to see the final bill. But in 2023, during her second pregnancy, a private midwifery practice in New York told her that since she had a high-deductible plan, it was mandatory to pay $2,000 spread out with monthly payments. Daw, a health policy researcher at Columbia University, delivered in September 2023 and got a refund check that November for $640 to cover the difference between the estimate and the final bill. “I study health insurance,” she said. “But, as most of us know, it’s so complicated when you’re really living it.” While the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to cover some prenatal services, it doesn’t prohibit providers from sending their final bill to patients early. It would be a challenge politically and practically for state and federal governments to attempt to regulate the timing of the payment request, said Sabrina Corlette , a co-director of the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University. Medical lobbying groups are powerful and contracts between insurers and medical providers are proprietary. Because of the legal gray area, Lacy Marshall , an insurance broker at Rapha Health and Life in Texas, advises clients to ask their insurer if they can refuse to prepay their deductible. Some insurance plans prohibit providers in their network from requiring payment up front. If the insurer says they can refuse to pay up front, Marshall said, she tells clients to get established with a practice before declining to pay, so that the provider can’t refuse treatment. Related Articles Which health insurance plan may be right for you? California case is the first confirmed bird flu infection in a US child What’s up with that brown haze across Colorado’s Front Range when it’s not summer ozone season? Your cool black kitchenware could be slowly poisoning you, study says. Here’s what to do Does fluoride cause cancer, IQ loss, and more? Fact-checking Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims Clark said she met her insurance deductible after paying for genetic testing, extra ultrasounds, and other services out of her health care flexible spending account. Then she called her OB-GYN’s office and asked for a refund. “I got my spine back,” said Clark, who had previously worked at a health insurer and a medical office. She got an initial check for about half the $960 she originally paid. In August, Clark was sent to the hospital after her blood pressure spiked. A high-risk pregnancy specialist — not her original OB-GYN practice — delivered her son, Peter, prematurely via emergency cesarean section at 30 weeks. It was only after she resolved most of the bills from the delivery that she received the rest of her refund from the other OB-GYN practice. This final check came in October, just days after Clark brought Peter home from the hospital, and after multiple calls to the office. She said it all added stress to an already stressful period. “Why am I having to pay the price as a patient?” she said. “I’m just trying to have a baby.” ©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.Penn State fans, and James Franklin , can take a deep breath. Offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki posted on social media Monday night to hint that he plans to stay with Penn State moving forward. “Beyond lucky to be a part of the Penn State Football Family,” he wrote on X . “Still a lot to accomplish this season and I am looking forward to what 2025 has in store for our program!” Kotelnicki’s job status has been under scrutiny since reports surfaced on Dec. 2 that he’d interview at West Virginia for the Mountaineers' open head-coaching job . He went through the process, but clearly, Kotelnicki will remain in Happy Valley. The former Kansas offensive coordinator came to Penn State this offseason with the promise of delivering creative and explosive offensive play. Kotelnicki’s group has scored 33.2 points per game this season, good for 25th in the country, en route to an 11-2 record and a Big Ten Championship berth. While the numbers are a statistical decrease from 36.2 points in 2023, this year’s Penn State squad has been more consistently explosive. The Lions generated 57 plays of 20-plus yards in the regular season compared to 47 in 2023. A 37-point, 518-yard performance against No. 1 Oregon for the conference title was another example of why Kotelnicki was brought in. His work with quarterback Drew Allar and Heisman-candidate tight end Tyler Warren, specifically, has caught national attention for good reason. He’s also notorious for trick plays, like one Penn State ran for Warren against USC in which the tight end both snapped the ball and caught a touchdown . It’s not particularly surprising to see Kotelnicki stick with Penn State this time around, but he’s sure to continue generating head-coaching interest if he also continues to excel with the Nittany Lions. Penn State turns its attention to its home first-round College Football Playoff game, where it will serve as the No. 6 seed and play against the No. 11 seed in SMU . BETTING: Check out our guide to the best PA sportsbooks , where our team of sports betting experts has reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and quality of odds for multiple sportsbooks. Sign up for the PennLive’s Penn State newsletters, the daily Penn State Today and the subscriber-exclusive Penn State Insider More Penn State Football News Penn State 'point god' Ace Baldwin Jr. named to national player of the year watch list Freshman Penn State defensive lineman planning to enter transfer portal Hoping to stay in State College for the Penn State-SMU playoff game? Better have a booming 401`k

NEW YORK (AP) — Greg Gumbel, a longtime CBS sportscaster, has died from cancer, according to a statement from family released by CBS on Friday. He was 78. “He leaves behind a legacy of love, inspiration and dedication to over 50 extraordinary years in the sports broadcast industry; and his iconic voice will never be forgotten,” his wife Marcy Gumbel and daughter Michelle Gumbel said in a statement. In March, Gumbel missed his first NCAA Tournament since 1997 due to what he said at the time were family health issues. Gumbel was the studio host for CBS since returning to the network from NBC in 1998. Gumbel signed an extension with CBS last year that allowed him to continue hosting college basketball while stepping back from NFL announcing duties. In 2001, he announced Super Bowl XXXV for CBS, becoming the first Black announcer in the U.S. to call play-by-play of a major sports championship. David Berson, president and CEO of CBS Sports, described Greg Gumbel as breaking barriers and setting standards for others during his years as a voice for fans in sports, including in the NFL and March Madness. “A tremendous broadcaster and gifted storyteller, Greg led one of the most remarkable and groundbreaking sports broadcasting careers of all time," said Berson. Gumbel had two stints at CBS, leaving the network for NBC when it lost football in 1994 and returning when it regained the contract in 1998. He hosted CBS’ coverage of the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics and called Major League Baseball games during its four-year run broadcasting the national pastime. But it was football and basketball where he was best known and made his biggest impact. Gumbel hosted CBS’ NFL studio show, “The NFL Today” from 1990 to 1993 and again in 2004. He also called NFL games as the network’s lead play-by-play announcer from 1998 to 2003, including Super Bowl XXXV and XXXVIII. He returned to the NFL booth in 2005, leaving that role after the 2022 season. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Get local news delivered to your inbox!This Shiba Inu (SHIB) Alternative Will Outperform in the Coming Weeks and Skyrocket From $0.15 to $15