♪ judy: good evening. the omicron surge as covid cases climb, schools weigh the risks and the fda approves booster shots for more children. nearly a year later, americans reflect on what led people from their communities to take part in the january 6th attack on the capitol. >> we hang out together and go to happy hours together. it was shocking. but then when i started thinking more about what -- who that. person was it was judy: bills. a new law aims to keep

patients from getting hit with unexpected medical bill. all that to more on "pbs newshour." >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by. >> it is the little things. the reminders of what is important. it is why fidelity advisors are here to help you create a wealth plan. a plan with tax sensitive investing strategies, planning focused on tomorrow while you focus on today. that's the planning effect from fidelity. >> consumer cellular. johnson & johnson. bnsf railway.

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broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. judy: covid-19 has begun 2020 to the way it ended 2021, spreading quickly throughout the country. the omicron surge is forcing airlines and businesses to limit operations as more workers fall ill or test positive. the chief medical officer in congress is urging lawmakers to work from home and the virus is disrupting back-to-school plans in many communities as well. >> students around the country file back into classrooms in the new year, but many schools chose to delay that return. as parents rushed to secure covid swabs. schools in newark, milwaukee, and cleveland moving to virtual learning or canceling classes altogether today. schools and washington, d.c., baltimore, and detroit extending winter break to ease staffing

shortages. north of the border, canada's most populous province of ontario moved all classes online, delaying reopen until january 17th. in america, district forging on with in person classes this weekend ramped up testing efforts. >> i'm really worried. for my kid, because he has asthma and i have cancer. it is like a double women because if he gets it i am going to get it. >> in new york city, families were urged but not required to get their kids tested. newly inaugurated mayor eric adams determined not to shutter schools. >> we lost almost two years of education. we cannot do it again. >> all of this is the fda today authorized pfizer booster shots for kids aged 12 to 15. the cdc will consider updating guides. >> in the setting of a tremendous number of omicron

and delta cases the potential benefits of getting vaccinated outweigh the risk. >> meanwhile, omicron continues to surge. the u.s. copped 55 million daily covid cases, daily cases have jumped 200% in two -- in two weeks. dr. fauci defended the cdc's shorter isolation guidelines saying testing could be added to those protocols. >> looking at it again, there may be an option and that the testing could be a part of that. i think we will be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the cdc. >> in parts of the u.s., the perfect storm of wintry weather and pandemic staffing problems froze travel plans for thousands this weekend. even today around the world more than 4100 more flights canceled, half of them in the united states forcing some like ian

harrison and his family to improvise. >> we just needed to get home so we got in a rental car. >> as the nation wonders when this latest covid wave will pass us by. >> for more on what year three will look like i am joined by dr. monica ghandi who specializes in infectious diseases at the university of california san francisco. welcome back to the news hour. let's start with these case counts because we see the u.s. breaking records and we continue to report on those but with this variant and at this point in the pandemic, how important a metric our case counts to you? >> so, you know, not as important as they were a year ago. a year ago, when case counts went up, hospitalization cases went up, they were tracking with each other. now cases and hospitalizations are becoming uncoupled.

higher immunity in the population. december 2021, january 2022 higher immunity. omicron does not infect lung cells as well. cases are diverting wildly. cases don't mean with you soon we should start tracking hospitalizations for covid as our ma metric of are you doing ok, what is your success metric? >> so a lot of folks a been talking about the south african experience what they have been through and there omicron surge which lasted about 4-6 weeks. how good of a guide is the south african experience for what the u.s. could see? >> the one difference between south african and here it's true that they have a younger population but they also divided out their results by people who were older and still saw less

severe disease in every age stratus. there is something about less severe disease, more mild variant. what is the rate of immunity? 25% vaccination but one study showed 75% in terms of natural immunity putting together with that. so they went up and they came down within 4-6 weeks. we have those same levels of immunity. luckily a lot more because of higher rates of vaccination. and then unfortunately, we have natural immunity from the delta surge. we should see the same finding where it goes up and comes back down quickly. and we are hoping for mid-january for cases to come down. >> let me ask about schools because that is top of a lot of people's minds. we saw over the last two years with all the mitigation in place, masking and distancing and ventilation, schools did not drive outbreaks in communities but should we be thinking about that differently with omicron

because it is so much more transmissible? >> so the differences you are right that we were able to keep schools open in many states in our country with these medication procedures and everything went fine. now we have something different. we have so many cases you can also say we have teacher vaccinations, vaccination of students down to the age of 5, we have the power to prevent what was scaring us the most about covid-19 which was severe disease. we have vaccinations overlaid on top of mitigation procedures and it is important to keep schools i think most public health officials would not say otherwise because of the learning loss, because of the mental illness, because of eating disorders. everything we can see, we cannot act like we are in 2020. we are in 2022. we have vaccines and we know what to do to keep schools open. >> finally i want to ask you

about testing because as you know, they're not nearly enough tests for everyone who wants one and we know that dr. fauci is referenced they may add testing to those new protocols for people who test positive or who are exposed, but i guess i want to ask you if we have those tests available, how much more strong would that make the guidance? if everyone who wanted one had one and offices and schools had free tests, what difference would that make? >> you know, it would probably not make that much of a difference. why did they reduce the isolation from 10 days to five days? because we have two years worth of data and the most careful study showed that alst all of the tranission occurs within the first five ds. the study if you look at the guidelines, it's from taiwan, it is probably the largest contact tracing study. there were zero transmissions that occurred six days after someone got symptoms. all with kurt -- all occurred within five days. getting a negative test at five

days is not going to change anything because a pcr test could show low viral loads. contact tracing studies is what tells us we are staying the five days. >> i have to ask you, how worried are you about a new variant, or do you think omicron will be the last surge we see in the u.s.? >> one thing i will say is that global vaccine efforts, i cannot think of anything more important because that is how we prevent new variants from happening. we will have new variants but i think omicron is going to be the one to give so many people immunity who are not vaccinated, or who have much lower cases and it is going to get a pandemic to a very low level phase that we can deal with. >> that is dr. monica ghandi. always good to see you. thank you. >> thank you.

♪ >> i have an reason and for stephanie sy. -- i am vanessa ruiz. after seven days of deliberation jury has found the former ceo of theranos elizabeth holmes guilty of fraud. she was accused of falsely claiming that her company had a breakthrough blood testing technology. later she was convicted on two counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. holmes was acquitted on four other felony charges and on the three remaining charges, the jury was deadlocked. the former ceo could face up to 20 years in prison. and a major winter storm snowed in the nation's capital and much of the mid atlantic today. up to 10 inches fell across the region, and winds gusted to 35 miles an hour.

president biden was stuck aboard air force one after returning to d.c. from delaware till plows cleared a path for the stairs. the storm close schools and grounded flights and knocked out power far soutas alabama. despite the weather, the u.s. senate returned today, with democrats demanding passage of voting rights legislation. republicans have filibustered the package forng a 60 vote threshold for action. the majority leader chuck schumer said he will call for changing filibuster rules by the martin luther king jr. holiday. in a teleconference, nancy pelosi echoed the appeal. >> there is nothing more important that congress has to do than to pass this legislation. everything that we do is affected by how elections are, the sanctity of the vote is respected. >> the voting rights legislation would be a response to election

laws passed in republican-led states since the 2020 presidential vote. the attorney general of new york state issued subpoenas today for former president trump and two of his children. along with their father, donald trump, jr. and ivanka trump are being asked for testimony and documents. it is focused on the family's business. and there is fresh evidence of rising gun filings across the country. new data shows chicago and surrounding cook county, illinois, had more than 1000 gun related killings in 2021. that was 121 more than the record set one year before. the great majority of the victims were black or hispanic. iran today marked two years since u.s. drones killed a general. at a rally, the president demanded that mr. trump be

prosecuted for the attack. >> if a mechanism for a fair trial of donald trump and the o ther criminals is prepared and if they are punished for their crimes, that's fine. if not, i am telling all american leaders don't doubt the hand of revenge will come. >> rebels in yemen seized a ship in the red sea from the uae. it is part of a coalition fighting the rebels allied with iran. in iraq troops shot down two armed drones at the airport. the words of soleimani's revenge were painted on one in arabic. the u.s. urged sudan's military today to support civilian -- to restore civilian rule a day after that prime ministers step down. protests have continued since a military coup in october and troops killed two mo demonstrators. nearly 60 have died overall.

now to south africa. the fire that destroyed part of the historic parliament complex flared up again today. flames. on the building's roof in the center of cape town. officials are investigating the fire, but have arrested and charged one man with arson. back in this country, search teams in colorado are still looking for two people missing from last week's wildfire disaster. a windfield inferno burned 1000 homes and other buildings between denver and boulder. investigators looking into the cause of the wildfire have narrowed the search to an area near boulder, but authorities say it could be weeks before details are released. still to come on the newshour, we speak to the longtime girlfriend of a capitol police officer who died aer the january 6 riot. we weigh the political divions one year later.

and how technology is helping struggling dairy farms and much more. >> this is the "pbs newshour" from wetga in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. judy: this week's marks one year since the insurrection at the u.s. capitol. over the next few days we will examine what happened last january 6th as well as the misinformation, extremism and political divisions that contributed to the attack and continue to plague the nation to this day. william begins our coverage. he recently traveled to one part of the country that produced an outsized number of people charged in the capitol rts and heard from others in that community who are still trying to understand the forces that propelled their neighbors to the siege. >> any other pages on the fence about joining us in d.c.?

don't think, just -- just do. >> as tv screens show the destruction and chaos at the u.s. capitol on january 6, this real estate agent washed it all unfold on social media from her house in frisco, texas. as one facebook friend after another posted from the capitol. >> not only just recnizing names but faces and people that i had known for a long time. >> johnston worked in the same circles as jenna ryan who live streamed on facebook throughout the rt. >> they said someone and there is shot in the face, i don't care. shoot me in the face. >> there is wonderful -- >> johnston had also been friends since high school with another local realtor who flew with jenna ryan. >> these were neighbors, a lot of them from right here in north

texas. we hang out together, we would go to happy hours together and shopping but thewhen i took a step back and started thinking more about who that person was it was less surprising. i think that there is a certain section of these people that became emboldened, and they feel righteous. and i believe that -- is one of those that got swept up in that. >> this region was an epicenter for people who went to the capitol. the dallas fbi field office has arrested 35 people for their role in that day's events. that is among the highest numbers of any field office in the country. when you saw thaa lot of people in this region were being nabbed by the authorities for january 6, did that surprising? >> i didn't really surprise me. we have seen a shift over the last five years. i think that politicians somehow keyed into the idea that

divisiveness and demonizing the other side created more of a frenzy. how are you? >> george fuller is the mayor of the north texas city of mckinney. he has pushed back on the various lies and because fear is that animated so many people here to go to the capitol. the main one, the debunked fantasy that donald trump won he election. >> i'm here to tell you as a republican, the lecture was not stolen. republicans lost the presidency. >> is that a frothing for you to say in front of the kim? >> i i will catch a tremendous amount for that. >> the mayor says it is not just the election. he had to push back on all kinds of conspiracies in his community and even within his own family. >> i have one sister that the fact that i was engaged in setting up a maga fascination nter, i was part of the deep state -- a maga vaccination center.

i am injecting people with tracking chips. i said, for you to be right i have to be part of this conspiracy. in your response was, you are. you must be. and say it with a smile but it is very sad, i was very close to my sister but she finds, she spendser time in in the deep black holes of the internet and finds all kinds of things that convince her she is right, and these things are real. >> those black holes and different realities are expanding as fast as these north texas suburbs. as we see around me, this area is going through a housing boom. according to the senses, the city of frisco, texas, was the fastest growing city in all of america over the last 10 years. d as the region grows, the demographics are shifting as well. this local county dropped from 63% white population down to 51% in that same time. debbie teaches at a local public

school. she asked that we only use her first name to she says given the atmosphere, she does not want to trigger anymore anger. she has lived in this area for 40 years. she has seen someacklash to its rapid transformation. >> when we saw language about keep plano suburban and keep away the apartments. that's a dog whistle, against diversity of people, of social economics. it is just another culture war. >> others point out that nativists and violent rhetoric is also coming from the pulpits of some of the christian evangelical churches in this area. like brandon, pastor of king of lake ch -- of kingdom life church who told them -- them to keep their guns loaded. debbie saw heated fights over mass mandates, so-called critical race theory and growing

calls for banning books. >> we started the school year with tons of people showing up with signs with horrible things on their t-shirts and on these signs. it is terrifying. they harass people. >> last year, she was the target of that harassment. her family moved to frisco for the growing economic opportunities but she ran for city council in 2020 and she saw an ugliness below frisco shining surface. >> during my campaign, i started to face a lot of hate. misinformation, just brainwashing, the attacks i got from different extremist groups paint me as anti-semitic, trying to paint me as anti- police, anti-american. even at the polls i was spit

it. >> she lost her race and now says if she knew the extent of the xenophobia that would bubble out of some of her neighbors, she would've thought twice before running. >> i think if i had seen what went down on january 6, if i had forecasted everything that happened leading up to november, i would not have. >> really? it is a paradox. this region's blooming development is quite literally built from the ground up and maintained by an influx of non- white residents. >> they do construction work. they do cleaning houses. and roofing. electricians, everything to do with the building of the house. >> alex is a long time pastor and also a lawyer who helps immigrants work through the legal process. he says what he saw on january 6

turned his stomach. >> for us, the american flag is a symbol of respect. when we become citizens, we pledge allegiance to the flag. but now we've seen these rioters using the flag as a symbol and attacking people and destroying property of the government in washington, we kind of, is that the purpose of the flag? >> meanwhile rioters seem to revel in their white privilege. >> sorry, i have blonde hair, white skin, a great job and i am not going to jail. ryan reported to prison right before christmas. another january 6 rioter, mark middleton, charged with assaulting d.c. police officer is running for a seast on a platform of building from supporter wall, -- border wall and possible secession from the union. in the big lie conspiracies

continue. this county is one of four where officials have lost were audits of the 2020 election. initial results released on new year's eve found what all other audits have found -- no evidence of widespread voter fraud. ♪ >> for those who have borne the brunt of lies and conspiracies, this new year could not come soon enough. >> there was a while where i could not even walk in my neighborhood because i just wasn't ready to face the world. i'm raising three daughters. what kind of a world are we living in? how do we get out of it? >> a year since the attacks, and the gulf between families, neighbors and political partner ems wider and more on bridgeable than ever.

♪ judy: on january 6, as rioters breached the capitol security perimeter, capitol police officer tried pushing back the crowd to ptect to -- in an attempt to protect the lawmakers inside one of those officers was brian sicknick. pro trump rioters sprayed with a chemical substance and he collapsed later that evening. he suffered two strokes and he died the next day at the age of 42. officer sicknick and garza were together for 11 years. thank you so much for joining us to talk about something so personal to you. tell us a little bit about him. >> oh brian was one of the

sweetest, kindest men i've ever met and i know that sounds so cliché. when a loved one or someone that you care about so much passes away for people to say, they were the kindest, sweetest person i have ever met, but it really was true. to really emphasize how true that was about brian, even the investigators who were investigating his death, because it took three and a half months to find out what caused his ath they actually said to me that they could not find one person, not one single soul to say anything negative about brian. that is how well liked and how good of a person that he was. brian got along with everybody. he was just a warm, loving person. and so, it really hurt me a lot to nkow th -- know that he

suffered greatly before his death. he was a good person. judy: some people have looked at what happened and read about and they have questioned the connection between what happened to him as we mentioned. he was sprayed with a chemical substance. then he suffered two strokes, he died the next day. som people havee questioned the connection but you said there is no doubt in your mind that it was what happened and that riot that led to his death. well, i have said, that i accepted the medical examiner's conclusion. and the report. but -- what i will say is that all -- the medical examiner said that all the transpired that day played a role in escalating or tipping the scales to escalate his death. and i agree with that. i hope i'm not misquoting the medical examiner.

but that is premature i see it-- that is pretty much how i see it. brian was running from one end of the capitol, he was exerting himself and he was attacked. all of those factors combined and being highly stressed producing a lot of adrenaline and cortisol in the body. worrying about his colleagues. if i was approached by thousands of people and there was only three or four officers next to me, and they are screaming at me and throwing things at me and assaulting me, i would be pretty darn stressed. so, i think definitely that played a role in tipping the scales for him to pass away much faster. judy: brian, we know now, brian had been a supporter of former president trump. he had opposed his first impeachment. but then, of course, these events took place.

who do you hold responsible, to what extent do you hold the former president responsible for this? >> i hold donald trump 100% responsible for what happened on january 6, and all of the people that have enabled him, enabled him that day and continue to enable him now. but definitely, yes. and i think sadly brian did not live long enough to see that evidence that has come forth to show what kind of man donald trump really is. clearly he does not support law enforcement. he watched for hours law enforcement being pummeled attacked and he did nothing. later we had four officers killed themselves because the events of that day, the stressors that they experienced and of course, the last two officers sadly that committed

suicide we dnot know all the factors that combined that cost them to take their lives, but clearly we know the january 6 was a terrible event, and i think that, coupled with other stressors in their life, certainly played a role. and i think brian would be horrified. i think he would have viewed donald trump in a very different light. and on that day all the officers were in their respective areas. it was only after the event that they got to see all of the footage from that day, that they got to see what their colleagues on the other end of the capitol were experiencing. so i think they were horrified. judy: and you are right. it has taken a long time for many of those details, for the video, pieces of the story to come together. how do you think the former president should be held accountable? >> personally for me i think he needs to be in prison. that is what i think.

but donald trump has been playing these legal wrangling games for decades. he knows how to skirt the system. he knows, he is a very litigious person himself. and then when he has been sued he knows how to play these games to get around things and avoid jail and prison time. so, you know, that is the sad piece. but it would be very, what is the word i'm looking for, satisfying to me to see him in ison. i don't regret for voting for trump. i identify as an independent, by the way. brian was a republican. but the horrific thing that he did on the six is unforgivable. it's terrible. he is just a horrible person. and he still has not contacted me, by the way. judy: he has not been in touch with you? >> no.

he does not have the courage or the spine to do it. he just doesn't judy: what do you say or think of the members of congress, most are and members of congress are saying in effect let's move on. january the sixth happened. it is in the past. we need to foc on the future. >> what i would say to that is trump is the type of man who insights violence, and, you know, it is not going to stop. if they do not stand up and say enough is enough, it is just going to continue. and sadly, i really worry about the safety of our officers still. i worry about another january 6 like attack. this is serious stuff. and they are concerned about money in their pocket and power. it is ridiculous. it is really ridiculous. they don't care about the american people.

that says it right there. they care about themselves. judy: sandra garza, we know what a tough week this is for your remembering all of that. and remembering of course your long-time partner brian sicknick. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate. >> thank you. i appreciate you having me. it was nice speaking to you. ♪ judy: the attack on the capitol inflamed divisions across the country, impacted republican party messaging, and presented new challenges for then president-elect biden. out politics monday team is here with me to assess the state of politics one year later. that is amy walter othe cook lyrical report. -- of the cook political report and timbre keith of -- and

tamara keith of npr. after listening to that interview, i want to start with you, it is not a bulletin how divided the country has but there is no esh evidence of that, a poll we have done with npr. we asked about whether people view what happened on january 6 as an insurrection. 89% of democrats view it that way but only 10% of republicans. and meantime 68% of republicans and just 5% of democrats say the congressional committee investigating january 6 is a witchhunt. how do you explain this? >> there are alternate realities that have been spun out over the st year. on january 6 in the days immediately following january 6, there was widespread agreement

between political leaders of both parties. you had kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell going out and giving these impassioned floor speeches, essentially blaming the former president, blaming donald trump for the attack on the capitol. since then they have gone quiet. members of congress have tried to get past it and do not want to talk about it. as a result, at the same time that president trump and his closest allies in congress and elsewhere have started describing it as a tourist visit or downplaying the attack, while at the same time continuing to play up questions about what happened with the election, claiming it was a rigged and falsely claiming fraud. it has created a situation where democrs and republicans are existing in different universes. judy: but all of this, there is new evidence is either was discussing with ms. garza.

new evidence about what happened, the president's role, exactly how violent so much of what these protesters, these rioters did at the capitol. it's difficult to understand. >> it is but i think tam put it really well that people are living in two different realities. when you look at the pole that you just referenced, the pbs npr poll, overwhelmingly americans across the political spectrum, 80% of americans, democrat and republican say democracy is at its -- at risk. there are issues that put democracy at risk. but what those issues are differ by party. january 6 as you pointed out not seen by republicans as a threat to democracy. overwhelmingly seen by democrats as a threat to democracy. interesting land off, it is only

about 40% of the independents who believe that january 6 was a threat to democracy. then you go to the question, this was in a cbs poll, what about voting illegally? do you think that is a major threat to democracy? overwhelming of -- number of republicans said absolutely. you can compartmentalize, and this is what people are doing about what constitutes a threat, what is an existential worry for our democracy. it is not coming from us. it is coming from them. i go back 20 years to the 2000 election which was also incredibly contentious where you had a number of people who thought, on, in this case decrats who thought that the election should be invalid or that president bush was given th presidency in a way that was not correct because of the supreme court. and yet, two years later, by

overwhelming consensus, democrats, republicans and the house and the senate passed reforms to the voting process. because of all the attention i remember those butterfly ballots and hanging chads. there was consensus that while maybe you were upset about the outcome of the election, that both sides agreed we do need to fix what went wrong on election day. now the idea of what went wrong on election day depends on which side you are sitting on. judy: and what ab says reminds us of a democrats, the president - - what amy says reminds us of what the democrats and the president are making, to push for voting rights reform in part because of the aftermath of january 6. what is happened in states around the republican-led states

around the country. what are the prospects this is going to be successful? >> the prospects that president biden and democrats will make a lot of noise about voting rights in the next several weeks are very high. the prospects of actually passing legislation are very low, because the numbers simply are not there. president biden has expressed something of a willingness to entertain the idea of changing the rules of the filibuster if only just for voting rights. but there are not 51 votes to do that. there are not 51 democrats willing to change the rules for that. what amy was saying is truly the remarkable difference. that there are basically no republicans or maybe one republican who, a couple of republicans who are concerned about the state of voting rights legislation. that it has been eroded by the supreme court and see and need

for renewed voting rights legislation. but it is not bipartisan, and it is not overwhelmingly bipartisan and it is not bipartisan enough to make it through this narrowly divided senate. judy: how do you see the path forward for this? >> i agree. and this is the thing that is perplexing and this is what has been nawing at democrats for the last few months which is they have been talking a lot about what they cannot get done. build back better, we got a get joe manchin. it is really tough to do. 50-50 senate. want to do voting rights. they have the filibuster. and so you can understand why so many democrats, especially activists, are feeling disillusioned andisappointed. and there are a lot of democrats i talked to who say, what the party needs to do right now is actually lean into the things that they can do instead of focusing on the things they cannot do. the idea that they will put republicans on record for these

votes is not going to have much of an impact electorally. i understand the desire to to say it is republicans standing in the way but what democrats, what democrats i talked to have been saying, what we would rather see his democrats talking about the things they have done. or using levers of power they do have at the executive level. no, you cannot change a lot of these voting laws. a lot of them are at the state level but focusing on the negative is not doing democrats a lot of good. judy: in a few seconds, this means that they have put off bill beck better. what are the prospects there? -- they put a off build back better. >> the sense i get is then they are more hopeful and potentially conversations are continuing with joe manchin. he made a hopefully shut the door. they are still going to work on

it. and they are still going to push for it. judy: maybe with some changes. at the start of this week, when we are doing a lot of looking back, thank you both. >> you're welcome. ♪ judy: millions of americans have new federal protections from unexpected medical costs if they see a doctor they did not choose and who doesn't accept their insurance. for years, the price take from surprise medical bills could range from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands. a new law that took effect at the start of the new year changes that. jeffrey brown has the story. >> the bipartisan no surprises act covers nearly all out-of-network emergency procedures among other care. here to explain, a health care

reporter for the new york times. welcome. first, remind us why this was needed. >> this was actually a beautiful problem -- pretty big problem. people would go to the emergency room or have a scheduled surgery or a c-section, something like that and it would turn out after they got their care there was some doctor along the way who was part of their care who did not accept their insurance and this was a very common thing, about one in five people who went to the emergency room and one in five people who had a scheduled surgery would end up with a bill from a doctor they did not choose, and those bills could be thousands and tens of thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of what their insurance covered. so congress wanted to address this problem and make it so the people did not get these nasty surprises when patients were doing the right thing and going to places where they thought their insurance would cover the care. >> so a lot of people -- had a lot of dollars at stake. how will it work? >> it covers a lot of things.

there are couple of little holes people should know about but if you have a medical emergency and you go to the emergency room at a hospital or an urgent care center, everyone that takes care of you will be covered by your insurance now. you have a deductible or you pay cost-sharing of some kind like a copayment, you have to pay that the same issue ever would but you're not going to get any extra bills from doctors who do not take your insurance. everyone is going to be covered. the one big exception to that is if you take an ambulance, you could get a bill from an ambulance. congress did not take care of that problem. it is a complicated policy area they are hoping to get back to. but i think that is the most important situation. if you have an emergency, your emergency will cover the emergency room care now. >> i did notice the exception for the ambulance. of course it often is so necessary. >> it is sort of unfortunate because of course an ambulance is a perfect example of a provider that you don't pick. you call 911 and whoever comes is not a person you have

selected. congress was not able to fix this problem. we do know it is a relativel big problem. have a fabulous is dusan peoples bills without accepting their insurance -- do send people bills without accepting insurance. a couple of states have addressed it but the federal government has not gotten to it yet. >> what about the impact on routine or scheduled care. >> this also provides a lot of consumer protections in that situation. if you're going to have a scheduled surgery, you are having knee surgery or something like that the hospital where you having the surgery is covered by your insurance and the surgeon who is doing the procedure is covered by your insurance. and then you do not have to worry about anyone else. there should not be a situation with an anesthesiologist that is not covered or radiologist. those people will be covered by your insurance. if for some reason there are some special doctor you really want to be there, who your insurance does not cover, there is a procedure where you can basically sign a form.

i'll allow this person to send me an extra bill but you have to get notice of advance and you have to sign a form in the form needs to tell you two things. how much they think it is going to cost so you're not surprised when you get the bill. and they also need to tell you, here are some doctors that will take some insurance that you can choose instead. if you're in a situation where you have a scheduled procedure and someone gives you that form, look at it closely. consumer advocates i talked to said there are very few situations in which it is in your interest to sign that form. the hospital needs to be able to provide you with options who will be covered by insurance. >> so it sounds good. it makes the system more transparent. presumably. but what is still on us as consumers? we get a bill and it looks high, what do you do? >> it is important to remember, health policy people call the surprise medical bills b these are not the only ways we get surprised by bills in the system. health insurance has complicated and our health care system is expensive. what a protect you against is

some doctor you did not take sending you a bill. that does not mean you will not be surprised by a medical bill. the biggest example where you could get surprises if you had a really high medical deductible, even if your care is covered by insurance, you can still get a bill for up to the amount of that deductible. i think that is one thing you need to be aware of. and i think another thing that is important is if you are going to a doctor not going to hospital for surgery or an emergency procedure, but you are going to an allergist a rheumatologist or some other kind of specialist, you do need to make sure that person is in your insurance network. those people also can send you bills that they are considered an out-of-network provider. the advice i would give you is you want to ask a doctor before you schedule the appointment are you in my insurance network? >> news you can use for consumers but still a lot to navigate in the health care system. thank you very much -- thank you very much. >> thanks so much for having me

on. judy: president biden held a virtual meeting with farmers today to discuss strategies to increase competition and combat rising prices from meat. with bigger farms taking over a larger share of the market, many smaller dairy farms are also at a crossroads where they have to adapt or call it quits. from milwaukee pbs and the journal sentinel, rick barrett investigates how some of the smaller farms in wisconsin are turning to technology to survive. >> dennis and susie, third generation farmers in clark county, wisconsin. like many others, they have gone through tough economic times. >> i think our biggest challenge on the farm other than financial is hired help. it is getting people here. it's really tough.

>> they worry whether their children will be able to or either want to take over the farm. >> it is a hd job. it is a lot of hours, but there is payoff to it. i think we have to adapt to the changes. >> kristin is the daughter of a farmer trying to bring changes to their farm. after studying dairy science in college she quit an office job and returned home to help her father run the dairy operations, including milking 72 cows. >> he's. willing to change with the times. hewants try new things . and is smart about it. and he does listen to his kids. that helps. he has a very open mind, which is not easy for a lot of farmers, especially older farmers to -- let their

kkids teach them something different. robotic feeder and it cost them $21,000. and we can run it 24 hours a day. >> the feeder for the cows. it is a big labor saver. >> robots are gaining ground. in addition to feeders there are milkers. >> i have been doing this forever but i learn things eryday. >> at his farm, matt has installed two milkers. >> cows have to be milked every single day. so, we looked at expanding and we could hired people to milk, or you can choose robots. >> how much would it cost for someone to -- >> they are anywhere from $200,000 per robot, and then you have to build the barn around them. you're looking atfor a two

robot barn, easily $1 million. >> they make up 1% of america's dairy farms that use robotic equipment. the u.s. department of agriculture says robots can provide 30% cost savings and milking cows. and spending less time in the barn allows farmers to foc on other sources of income like raising beef, alternative crops and even drops off the farm, ultimate a help them remain profitable. global future jack aldrich agrees that farmers need to invest in new ways of thinking including technology. >> there will be tractors and satellites looking down on your individual fields, identifying which crops are growing and which ones aren't, and you are going to be able to apply the exact amount of water, the exact amount of herbicide or whatever you need on it. >> back at this farm, dennis

and susie decided it was time to install about it milkers. >> i do think farming is going to continue. but i do think we have to change for our children to want to continue. >> their robots will be up and running in early 2022. using this type of technology is believed some dairy farmers -- the leap some farmers will have to make to encourage the next generation to stay on. judy: so glad to have this look at american farming. and that is the newshour for tonight. i am judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening for all of us at the pbs newshour, tha you. please stay safe and we will see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> pediatric surgeon, volunteer. topiary artist a raymond james

financial advisor. taylor's advice to live your life. life well planned. >> for 25 years consumer cellular school has been to provide wireless service to help people communicate and connect. our customerer sce tca visit cor cellular.tv. >> johnson & johnson. bnsf railway. the kendeda fund, committed to advancing restorative justice through investment in transformative leaders and ideas. ♪ supported by the john d and catherine t macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just and peaceful world. more information at

macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. this is pbs newshour west. from weta studios in washington and from our bureau at the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -welcome to "america's test kitchen at home." today, i'm going to make a rustic peach tart tatin. adam has a roundup of cake pans. then, idget's making petite financiers. we've got a lot in store for you today, so, stick around. ♪