ready it trick-or-treat this upcoming week. you think about the timing, also with the election and campaign events on the trail affected, as well. bonnie, thank you. we'll keep talking about this later. for now i have to let you go. i'll be back at the top of the hour. "sanjay gupta m.d." starts right now. thanks for joining us. there's fascinating new guidance out on fertility and freezing eggs. we're going to sort that out for you. also, top chef tom coucchio stops by to tell me how your vote this election could help us enjoy safer and healthier food. fascinating. tom joyner will come by with a holiday message everyone needs to hear out there. first i want to put your health insurance options under the microscope. you know what happens every year around this time, many of us are confronted with having to make some crucial decisions about our medical care, about our health insurance. you get those things in the mail.

even as a doctor, all that paperwork, the numbers can be overwhelming. a lot to sift through. here to help navigate this sometimes minefield of open enrollment is "consumer reports" senior health care reporter nancy mets calmetcalf. >> how are you? >> you probably sift through this, the number of choices people have can vary. for anybody with some choice in their health insurance, you they have are we can questions they have to ask themselves. like what? >> well, the first one is -- don't base your choice on how you -- what you need when you're healthy. you're not going to need much medical care when you're healthy. you don't buy homeowner's insurance for the -- all the days your house isn't on fire, you pea it whbuy it for the day house burns down. you have to think about the worst case scenario. this year, we have a new tool for that, it's something called the summary of benefits and coverage. brought to you courtesy of obama

care. it's basically a nutrition facts label for health insurance where every plan has to set out its main features in a standard way so you could compare them side by side. so you can really see what you're buying. >> right. right. now, one thing i want to clarify, when you talk about this worst case scenario, you're not saying that -- the idea of prevention and having adequate protection for prevention, as well, is obviously important. you want that to be parts of your health care plan. >> well, all health care plans now have to cover preventsive services. that's not an issue. of course you wants to haptwant immunizations and preventsive services. the real money, expenses come when you get hit by a bus, have cancer, or have a medical catastrophe. what we're advising is to take this sbc that you're going to get, multiply your monthly premium by 12 and look for a number on the front page called

the annual out-of-pocket limit. this is the most you'll have to spend in a year on things like deductibles, kay poeco-pays and deductible insurance. it can add up fast if you get sick. add the out-of-pocket limit to how much money you're going to be spending are o premiums that year. that's your maximum outlay that you'll have for health care. >> people as you know will look at the cost and say their basic monthly premium. that's what i'm basing this on. and you've said this before, you say that's a bad idea. why? >> yeah. it's -- it's a big mistake. there are so many other things involved. look, insurance companies are not charities. they have to make their money some way. if you is a chance of plans and one has a lot lower premium than the others, there's -- you've got to look, again, at the summary of benefits and coverage and figure out why that is. either it has a much higher

deductible, higher co-insurance, you might have to be paying 30% of your bill instead of 10% or 20%. it might leave out certain things. might only cover generic drugs. that may be okay with you. but you really need to understand what you're getting yourself interest in exchange for the lower premium. >> something else that comes subpoeup is prescription drugs. some people need a separate program for prescription drugs. is that wleclear when you need additional coverage like that? >> most employer coverage incorporates prescription coverage. but make sure you've got all kinds of drugs covered. don't make the mistake of only taking a plan that only covers generics because, again, you never know what's going to come your way. >> if you weren't taking notes, listening to what nancy was saying, here are questions that you can ask yourself when comparing these health insurance plans -- first of all, can i afford being in a cat strof?

>> plan for that. two, am i buying this based on the premium? not a good idea. nancy said, as well. does my policy include prescription drugs? most do, but not all. always great information, nancy, for viewers. really appreciate it. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. there's big news in the world of fertility, as well, to tell you about. the mesh american society of reproductive medicine says that egg freezing should no longer be experiment experimental. this means insurance may be more likely to pay. there's controversy around this. the asrn says the technique has proven safe and effective but say this -- healthy women shouldn't save eggs for cases of infertility. they say it should be used for infertility issues. many agree with that fact. here's what dr. peter naj told me when i visited his ivf lab. >> women, unfortunately, they

are getting married later, having children later. they are facing more infertility problems. doing artificial fertilization by cryoization is a possible for them. >> fertility is different for every woman. if you have questions or concerns, talk to your doctor. coming up, there's a new way to tell if your senator or congressman is putting their vote where their mouth is. tom colicchio of "top chef" will explain next. [ male announcer ] this is sheldon, whose long dy setting up the news starts with arthritis pain and a choice. take tylenol or take aleve,

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we've got election day coming up as you know. if you're looking for more reasons to vote for or against a particular candidate, i want to tell you about a new scorecard.

this ranks members of congress based on how they voted on something that's important to me -- food. food safety, nutrition programs, farm subsidies, a lets more. joining me from new york is top chef, tom colicchio, part of the group that came one the new rankings. thank you very much for joining us. i'm a big fan of much of your work. now this is very interesting to me, as well. the group is called food policy action. and you just announced it this week. it's organized, my understanding is, by the environmental working group and several activists and leaders of nonprofits. people who are paying attention to this for the first time may ask how does congress fit into this in terms of making a difference in how well we eat? >> sure. you know, i think this is a real values issue. if you value and want to understand sort of where your food comes from, on r really interested in food safety, if are you interested in farming families and keeping them together, if you're interested in the environment, if you're interested in labeling food, then your values are -- if you

lie somewhere in there, you want to place -- a place to go to check to see if your elected representatives are voting your values. >> another thing you bring up, and i read through the report, you think the government should subsidize or more subsidize growers of fruits and vegetables. there's not more subsidy, people don't realize that. how big a difference do you think that would make in terms of what people pay? i think that's the question they have. >> right. it would drive prices down. for instance, you know, if you want to feed your family organics, it's very expensive. it's definitely out of the reach of low-income people. but yet, you know, a lot of us feel that nutritious foods should be affordable and easy to obtain. and so if you're taking $20 billion a year and you're using that to subsidize corn, wheat, and soy, most things that go into highly processed foods and artificially keeps things cheap. now, if you take some of those subsidies and move them over to small local farmers that are growing organically, hopefully it will drive prices down and

more people could afford them. so again, that just makes good food policy. i don't think most people connect what that eating, prices, you know, at your supermarket or in a farmers market, to decisions that politicians are making. >> you know, you said at the beginning, food is not a partisan issue. and i mean, i agree with that. looking at the rankings, they do seem to clearly favor democrats. i mean, looking at them. is -- why do you think that is? >> you know, i don't know. that's not for me to figure out. but i think that, you know, possibly there's clearly a lot of votes in here for snap dollars and things like that that are usually -- or food stamps -- that are usually championed by progressives. i say usually because a lot of republicans scored above average, as well. and so i think that's probably why. but i think, again, hopefully that before our politicians are casting votes, they'll think about this and know they're getting graded on it. you know, that's our goal here.

we hope that people will vote with with their constituencies. if their constituencies care about food issues, there's a place where they can go and get the information now. and hopefully politicians will think twice before how they're voting on these various food issues. >> you bring up the food stamp program. george mcgovern died this past week, a liberal democrat. >> sure. >> he helped found the food stamps or expanded at least with the help of bob dole -- >> exactly. exactly. with bob dole. you know, this goes back to late '60s, early '70s, a film that they saw called "hunger in america." that, quite frankly, embarrassed a lot of people and opened a lot of people's eyes to some of the issues that were going on. and very quickly, they reached across the aisle and got together and created the modern food safety net. again, i don't think this is partisan at all. we fixed hunger. back in the -- in the early '70s. almost nonexistence. you know, we could do it again.

this isn't the issue like global warming that is -- is so difficult to figure out. a lot of people know how to fix this. we need to pay attention to. we can definitely fix hunger in this country. >> yeah. as a parent, as a doctor, it makes a lot of sense. and i appreciate you sharing some of this with us. we're certainly going to send people to the web site, as well, tom. thank you very much. >> thanks a lot. i appreciate. it good talking to you. 22-year-old college center paul headings has spent the last five years trying to put the shattered pieces of his world back together. you see, at 17 he dreamed of becoming a baseball player but instead faced a debilitating medical condition that was about to change his life forever. the thing is that headings refused to let it steal his dreams. [ cheers ] ♪

>> as a drum major for marching mizzou, the university of missouri's famed marching band, paul headings is living his dream. ♪ >> a new dream because his original dream of playing professional baseball was disappearing. ♪ >> september 7, 2007, just barely into my junior year of high school. >> the 17-year-old woke up, and his world was changing. >> everything was just a little blurry, didn't seem like anything was wrong. >> something was terribly wrong. his retinas had detached and started to tear apart. in both eyes. >> i didn't know how my life would change, what i'd be able to do, what i couldn't be able to do. i could potentially go completely blind. here we go, set! >> paul says this was not caused by disease or trauma but by genetics. >> this has happened to my mom, my grandma, a couple ink else. even my little sister is having similar issues. >> they didn't lose much vision. paul, on the other hand, is now legally blind. sight in his best eye can't be corrected beyond 2,200.

>> my left eye has blind spots. my peripheral vision is great. and that's why i'm so high functioning. the right eye is just kind of there. >> he can read but not well, by digitally scanning books into a computer that has screen manageification software. he says family, friends, and music saved his life. he joined his high school drum line, taking the music home, magnifying it, memorizing it. >> here we go, b flat. i just strapped up my boots and went to work. ♪ >> he made the mizzou drum line first playing cymbals. after an extensive interview process -- >> hut! >> clinched the coveted drum major spot. ♪ >> most in the band didn't even know he was legally blind. ♪ >> he suffered three detachments and cataracts in both eyes. one has now been removed. so far he's had more than ten operations and countless laser procedures.

>> i could wake up tomorrow and have lost significantly more vision. i could walk away from here today and something could happen, and i could lose vision. >> heddings hopes his time on the ladder will change the perception of visually impaired people. >> i want to be able to say when i leave here that i did something special. and that i didn't let this hold me back. >> and that is why we do the "human factor." paul heddings, great story. and another man doing something special, tom joyner. he's a man with a plan to get more african-american men to visit their doctor. we'll be back with tom right after this. and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. now, thaa test drive.ll silverado! the most dependable, longest lasting, full-size pickups on the road. so, what do you think? [ engine revs ] i'll take it.

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>> i had parents that are elderly age, and my thing is that i don't want to do that to my children, so if i can keep on top of my health as much as i can, i'll be able to see my children -- my grandchildren. >> who doesn't want that? i'll tell you, we talk about this on the show all the time. how important it is to go to the doctor to get that chair. >> the guy you just saw was attending a health festival in philadelphia. it's something tom has been running, talking about for ten years now. thanks for coming on the show. it's really nice to meet you and have you here in person. >> how did this all start? >> i feel fine. >> good. you came for the check-up, right? >> i feel fine. >> you look well. >> thank you. >>. >> how did this fair start? >> we started this ten years ago. the show tries to emphasize and take care of all the issues that

affect the african-american community. one issue that affects the african-american community disproportionately is health, and so in our community we don't like to go to the doctor, so we came up with one day, and we said, okay, take a loved one to the doctor on this day, and whatever you have to do, if you have to drag them, if you have to nag them, or whatever -- >> sometimes you have to. >> yeah, and so that's the way it all started out. >> it's interesting when you compare men and women, men are 70% less likely to go see a doctor versus women. just the gender gap. then if you say african-american men, they are 10% less likely than to go see the doctor even on top of that. why is it? maybe this is an obvious question, but why do you think that is? have you drilled down on this? >> we're stupid.

>> they want health. i mean, it's -- when i did your show, people are thirsty for information and content. why don't they go to their doctor? >> we just don't want to go. we don't want to be stuck, prod, opened up, looked at, and we're macho, and like i said, basically we're just stupid, you know, because we know what we're supposed to do, but it takes a loved one, especially m african-american community. women will go get checked. women will if get checked in the african-american community. men, not so much. it takes the woman to get that husband, father, that son, that grandfather, you know, come on, man, gout to get that looked at. there's something wrong with you. >> you yourself are 62 years old. i know you have a busy schedule. i was just talking to you this morning on the radio. you're flying around now.

>> i'm doing good. i do all the right things. i'm a vegetarian. i work out. and i have a lot of staff to keep me -- >> help you out. i was reading between dallas and chicago for seven years. you racked up eight million frequent flier miles. >> i would do the morning show in dallas, get on the plane, fly to chicago, do the afternoon show, and then fly back for the next morning show, and i did that for eight years. >> it's an incredible schedule, and i have a lot of admiration. i think i have a busy schedule until i meet somebody like you. real quick, when you go to these things in philadelphia, for example, this past weekend, do you get a sense of you're making a difference? what do you hear? >> i hear things like when we have 400 people to see the -- our 60 dentists that we have that 90 people have to make appointments for referrals. two or three people had to go to

a clinic right then and there. when we had somebody whose blood sugar was over 1,600 and had to be rushed to the hospital right then, right there at the health festival, that makes me feel real, real good. >> i hope you continue to beat the drum on this. we will do our part as well. it's an honor to have you here. >> thank you, dr. gupa. >> last but not least, chaesing life to 100. takes less than a minute a day, and it could add years to your life. stay with us. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone. [ candidate ] and thanks to every young face i see out there. [ woman ] his phone is one of his biggest supporters. [ female announcer ] with cisco at the center... working together has never worked so well.

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before you face plant into that halloween candy stash, i'm want just talking the kids here, chasing life today is about the importance of flossing of your teeth. every time gu to the dentist, you're told how important this is. most of you don't actually listen. a proper flossing not only leads to a nice smile, but it gives a window into the overall health of your body. you can see your teeth as well. getting rid of the plaque lowers your risk of heart steez and maybe more so that excessive plaq