NBC News investigates health insurance companies denying cancer patients coverage for potentially life-saving treatments. South Korea’s interim president is impeached just two weeks after the ouster of the country’s former leader. And a small Tennessee town is still in recovery mode after Hurricane Helene.
Here’s what to know today.
When insurance companies deny cancer care to patients
When
Tracy Pike learned he had Stage 4 stomach cancer, his doctor advised a
routinely practiced treatment combining surgery and intensive
chemotherapy – but the night before his first procedure, he was told
insurance declined to cover the roughly $40,000 treatment after ruling
it “not medically necessary.”
His wife, Angie, said the last straw came when she learned that one of the insurer’s physicians who had rejected the treatment was not a cancer doctor at all. He was an obstetrician-gynecologist. In January 2024, Tracy Pike died, leaving behind his wife of 22 years and their three children.
An NBC News investigation found that a cancer diagnosis, already a crushing blow to patients, is often compounded by insurance company denials of treatments and screenings recommended by a patient’s physician — and it’s only getting worse, according to the head of the American Medical Association.
Insurance companies say requiring doctors to justify their recommended treatment saves money. However, physicians argue that industry practices delay or outright prevent patient care, and families are left spending what could become their relative’s final days navigating red tape and appealing denials.
South Korean interim president impeached just 2 weeks after former leader ousted
South Korea’s parliament impeached acting President Han Duck-soo today, plunging the country deeper into political chaos two weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached over his declaration of martial law on December 3.
The motion led by opposition parties passed with 192 of the 300 votes with rowdy scenes by ruling People Power Party members who surrounded the speaker’s podium chanting the vote was invalid and parliament had committed “tyranny.”
“The only way to normalize the country is to swiftly root out all the insurrection forces,” opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said in a fiery speech, adding the party was acting on the public order to eradicate those who have put the country at risk.
A Tennessee town struggles to recover after Helene
Mud and debris still cake parts of Plastiexports, one of several industrial businesses destroyed or damaged when floodwaters from Hurricane Helene ravaged Erwin, Tennessee, three months ago. The small town of about 6,000 was flung into survival mode when the swollen Nolichucky River swept away lives and livelihoods. In its wake, the torrent of water left destroyed roads, devastated farms, unemployed residents and tons of mud and debris that has made the cleanup slow and daunting.
Lee Brown, Erwin Utilities CEO and Unicoi County economic development chairman, said unemployment spiked after the storm. “It’s hard to really have a tremendous amount of joy in your conversations when you think of all the community lost and those people who lost everything,” Brown said.
The next governor’s races that could bring big changes to state power
Over the next two years, 38 governor’s elections will be on the ballot — races that will shape a long list of contested policy issues and give a glimpse into voters’ response to Donald Trump’s second term.
Next year there will be two big races in blue states where Trump made considerable gains — New Jersey and Virginia. Virginia’s road to replace Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to come down to a female candidate from each parties, meaning the state will likely be electing its first female governor. In New Jersey, more than six high-profile Democrats and more than four Republican candidates are vying to replace Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in 2025.
The competitive races will continue in 2026 with three dozen races for governor, including six in battleground states. While many of these races will not be competitive in the general election, the primaries will offer revealing windows into the futures of both parties.
Trump’s ‘border czar’ on the role of family detention centers in future deportations
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to help lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement hasn’t written off the use of family detention centers for migrants, potentially reversing a Biden administration practice. “It’s something we’re considering,” Tom Homan said in an interview. ICE stopped detaining families who entered the country illegally with their children shortly after President Biden took office. Homan says the detention facilities would not be jails but “open-air campuses” designed for families.
Currently, the Flores Settlement Agreement limits the time migrant children can be held in detention to 20 days, but Homan hinted at fighting the federal court ruling: “I think the Flores Settlement Agreement is something that was the wrong decision,” he said. “Right now, we know what the rules say. And this is something that we’ll work within until we get another decision or a better decision from the courts.”
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