How one state cut health-care costs after a nasty fight

Good morning! It's Thursday, October 5th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show… the fight to identify tens of thousands of migrants who died at sea, how employers in Indiana won a battle to lower healthcare costs, and the beautiful Vermont town that's banning tourists.

But first, let's take a quick look at some major stories in the news. Ukraine says dozens of people are dead following a Russian missile strike that hit a shop in the northeast. The victims include a 6-year-old boy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls it a “deliberate terrorist attack” by Russia. Here in the U.S., the race for Speaker of the House is starting to shape up. Early Republican candidates to replace Kevin McCarthy include Steve Scalise, the Majority Leader, and Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan. There could be a floor vote as soon as next Wednesday, but the timing will depend on how divided the GOP is over who to choose.

Over the last decade, the Mediterranean Sea has become a mass grave. Millions of migrants, most from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, have tried to cross the sea into Europe, and many never make it. At least 28,000 migrants are missing and presumed dead. The true number is likely much higher.

Only 13 percent of those bodies are ever recovered by European authorities, and the vast majority are never identified. "Washington Post" reporter Louisa Loveluck spent some time talking to the few experts who are trying to identify these lost lives, and to the families of people who've gone missing at sea.

When a person goes missing, it really is described as the wound that does not heal. It gnaws away at families. Ambiguous loss, this condition that they often suffer from, is linked to depression. It is linked to a host of medical health conditions. And so, this does not end with a body in the sea. This has ramifications that continue for generations.

Now to State of the State, our ongoing series that looks at local issues and how they impact the people who live there. Today, we're going to Indiana, and the issue is skyrocketing health care costs for families and businesses.

See, employee healthcare is one of the biggest expenses for American companies. It costs $22,000 on average to insure a family. Companies pay roughly $16,000 of that, employees pick up the rest. These prices have been steadily rising for years and, recently, companies in Indiana said they'd had enough. "Wall Street Journal" health-insurance reporter Anna Wilde Mathews told us about the big numbers driving that.

In Indiana, and really sort of nationwide, employers are typically paying a lot more than the federal government pays through the Medicare program. And that hasn't always been obvious to employers. For a long time, those prices were kept pretty secret. But they're becoming increasingly transparent.

"Why can't Mom and Dad afford her hospital bills?" They also hired trucks with billboards criticizing hospitals to circle the Indiana State Capitol. And representatives from some of the biggest companies in the state testified to lawmakers. Hospitals fought back with their own ads, defending their practices, claiming they had reduced prices. They warned that price fixing could mean a reduction in services. And they accused the group of employers of being anti-free market.

For one thing, it blocked facility fees in certain locations owned by the state's largest non-profit hospital systems. Facility fees, as a lot of people might know from getting bills that include them, are sort of fees that are added on to the cost of a service when it's received in a hospital setting, typically a hospital outpatient setting. Those fees are allowed, and hospitals say they're very important in helping hospitals pay their own costs and their overhead.

If you asked an AI image generator to come up with the best image of fall foliage, it would probably show you something that looks a lot like Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret, Vermont. It's a real place, a 115-acre private property built in the late 1700s. It's got a classic red farmhouse, a barn, and at this time of year, really picturesque fall foliage. A little too picturesque, maybe. The town says it's being overrun by influencer tourists and is deciding to close roads to non-residents.

It's worth dealing with the crowds because this is the most picturesque place in Vermont.

But Sleepy Hollow Farm is a private residence, and locals say these crowds are just too disruptive. Emergency vehicles can't get around. There have been complaints of influencers damaging property and verbally assaulting residents. One local, Amy Robb, explained to "NBC" that these aren't just people coming to take quick selfies. Some of them are doing big productions.

We see people in dressing rooms, like, they bring dressing rooms to change in different outfits and take pictures.

try driving up Interstate 89, where there are plenty of beautiful trees showing off their fall colors.

You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article cued up for you. It's a murder mystery about a man known as the "Fudge King" of the Jersey Shore. An "Atavist Magazine" reporter tries to solve this decades-long cold case. If you're listening in the Podcasts app, follow Apple News+ Narrated to find that story. Enjoy that listen, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.