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After recovering from Hodgkin lymphoma at 16, Sean Swarner was diagnosed with a rare lung cancer. His doctor told him he likely had about two weeks to live.
But Swarner pulled through. Decades later, he credits his positive perspective, holding on to a “small sliver of hope” of survival. Swarner went on to climb Mount Everest and accomplish other incredible physical feats with just one lung.
In a new study, people who watched inspiring videos like Swarner's TedX talk felt more hopeful afterwards, and experienced less stress for ten days afterward, as NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.
The study included about a thousand adults from ahead 18 to 86, split into four groups. The first group watched a short inspiring video every day for five days – a story of someone overcoming adversity. The other groups watched a comedy video, did a few minutes of guided meditation, or watched no video at all.
Both the group that watched inspiring videos and the meditation group reported feeling more hope. (Comedy videos didn't appear to help. 😿)
So how can you get more hope-inducing content in your day? "Media can be a powerful tool for coping and mood management," says Judith Moskowitz, a psychologist who studies the impact of positive emotions. But she says you have to be proactive about seeking out uplifting content.
If you want to try this out for yourself, try keeping a log of the media you consume, and how you feel afterward. You might notice a pattern.
Learn about the study and get more tips for accentuating the positive in your media diet.
Plus: Kiss reality goodbye: AI-generated social media has arrived |
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Whether you chose to renew your current health insurance plan for 2026 or sign up for a new plan, you're probably assuming that the doctors who are covered now will be covered for all of next year.
But sometimes, a health insurer will drop a hospital or health care system from its network, leaving consumers feeling like a rug’s been pulled out from under them. That’s what happened to Amber Wingler of Columbia, Missouri, as Bram Sable-Smith reports for KFF Health News.
When Wingler’s insurer dropped MU Health Care from their network after contract negotiations failed in April, most of her family’s doctors were suddenly out-of-network, including specialists that her daughter had been waiting months to see. The only in-network pediatric specialists Wagner could find were now over 120 miles away.
Contract disputes could become even more frequent as hospitals brace for about $1 trillion in cuts to federal health care spending. If you find yourself caught in the middle, this information could help you protect yourself financially or at least save you some headache as you’re sorting things out.
You might not be able to switch to a new insurance company right away
Maybe you’re looking around for a new insurer that does cover your doctors. Unfortunately, providers getting dropped from a health insurance network doesn’t count as a qualifying event to allow you to change your plan outside of the annual open enrollment period. Big life events like getting married, having a baby or losing a job would qualify you.
You might qualify for an exception to keep costs lower
If you have a serious or chronic condition, you might be able to get your in-network coverage extended, which is called continuity of care. You can contact your insurer to apply for that extension, but it could be a lengthy process, involving paperwork from you and your provider.
Rifts between hospitals and insurers often get repaired
According to research from Brown University, most of the time hospitals and health insurers go through a “break-up,” they ultimately resolve the dispute and resume working together within a month or two. So there’s a decent chance that if you can wait it out, your doctor will end up back in-network.
Get more information about what to do if your doctors are no longer in-network.
Plus: When hospitals and insurers fight, patients get caught in the middle |
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We hope you enjoyed these stories. Find more of NPR's health journalism online.
All best,
Andrea Muraskin and your NPR Health editors |
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