USA: Health Insurance -What it's like living without health insurance in America - by John Tozzi and Emma Ockerman

Last week, Bloomberg News told the story of three families without health insurance. We also asked readers to share their own stories as we spend the next year following people who are “risking it.”

The response was overwhelming. More than 3,000 people from across the U.S. filled out our questionnaire and shared their challenges, and how their decisions have affected their health and financial well-being.

Some can’t afford to insure their children. Others are seeking cheaper care abroad. Some older adults are counting down the years until they qualify for Medicare.

While these people are among the 27 million Americans who remain uncovered despite the large expansion of health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, their stories transcend politics, reflecting tough kitchen-table decisions about health care faced by many families

Read more: What it's like living without health insurance in America

US Territories or Colonies?: Watch John Oliver Cast His Ballot for Voting Rights for U.S. Territories - by Melissa Locker

To help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march on Selma, Alabama, John Oliver focused his Last Week Tonight ire on a topic that does not tend to generate headlines: voting rights for the U.S. island territories — that is, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Marianas Islands.

According to Oliver, there are 4.1 million people living in Puerto Rico and the island territories. Of that population, 98.4% are racial or ethnic minorities, none of whom have the right to vote in U.S. elections. According to Oliver, the more you look into the reasons that the U.S. territories don’t have voting rights, the harder it is to understand why these dated laws have not been changed.

Way back in 1901, it was said that the island territories were inhabited by “alien races” that couldn’t “understand Anglo-Saxon principles” and thus were denied the vote. That hasn’t changed, despite the fact that even at the time, American legal thinkers thought that the territories’ lack of voting power should only last for a limited time. Fast forward 114 years and the U.S. citizens living on these territories still can’t vote, which Oliver compares to failing to update your computer operating system for over a millennium.

To bolster his argument that many U.S. citizens don’t understand the relationship between the 50 states and the U.S territories, Oliver showed clip after clip of news sources reporting that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was the child of Puerto Ricans who “immigrated” to the United States. As Oliver says, “If Puerto Ricans are immigrants, so is anyone who moves anywhere.” Despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens—and has more U.S. citizens than 21 states— they can’t vote for president, have no representation in the U.S. Senate and send only one non-voting delegate to the U.S. House. Oliver compares this status to letting a six-year old “vote” on where to spend the family vacation.

But Puerto Rico is lucky compared to some of the other U.S. territories. American Samoans aren’t even automatically granted U.S. citizenship, which, according to Oliver, renders the “American” part as moot as the phrases “social media expert” or “People’s Choice Award nominee.” Instead, they’re considered U.S. nationals, but not citizens. Over on Guam, 27% of the island is occupied by U.S. Navy and Air Force bases, and a staggering high number of Guam citizens are veterans of the U.S. military, but they still have no voting rights. Despite that, Guam holds a straw poll every presidential election and has higher voter turn-out than any other U.S. state — you know, the ones whose votes actually count.

But Puerto Rico is lucky compared to some of the other U.S. territories. American Samoans aren’t even automatically granted U.S. citizenship, which, according to Oliver, renders the “American” part as moot as the phrases “social media expert” or “People’s Choice Award nominee.” Instead, they’re considered U.S. nationals, but not citizens. Over on Guam, 27% of the island is occupied by U.S. Navy and Air Force bases, and a staggering high number of Guam citizens are veterans of the U.S. military, but they still have no voting rights. Despite that, Guam holds a straw poll every presidential election and has higher voter turn-out than any other U.S. state — you know, the ones whose votes actually count.

Read more: Watch John Oliver Cast His Ballot for Voting Rights for U.S. Territories | TIME

US Default: President Obama can and should ""blow-up" Republican T-Party intransigence by evoking the 14th Amendment

President Obama warns Republicans

It seems quite likely a deal will not be made before financial markets open on Monday. All eyes are now on a deadline of Thursday when, according to the Treasury, the $16.7tn debt limit must be raised in order for the US to continue paying its creditors.

It also is quite unlikely Reid and McConnell can reach a deal in the senate over the next 24 hours becauese procedural complications mean a vote might not be taken until Wednesday or even Thursday, a senior congressional aide said.

Republican members of the House gathered for a private meeting with the speaker, John Boehner on Saturday morning. The Republican leader informed his fellow representatives that discussions with the president had not yielded any prospect of a deal. "The president rejected our deal," said the Idaho representative Raul Labrador, immediately after the meeting.

The deal the President rejected included  new provisions to destroy Obamacare and chip away at other entitlement programs.

When asked if she thinks Obama should cite the 14th Amendment and raise the debt ceiling himself if House Republicans pick a fight over it, Delegate Donna Christensen (Virgin Islands) told The Huffington Post: "If we have to, yes."

Some Republicans have been downplaying the consequences of a default, despite dire warnings from economists of the damage it would do to both the U.S. and the global economy.
Christensen said she knows the president has stated that the constitutional approach is not an option for him.

The White House repeatedly rejects the idea when it comes up. But Christensen thinks Obama could be bluffing.

"I'm hoping he's just playing it close to his chest and doesn't want to give the other side any ammunition against it in advance," she said with a smile.

Evoking the 14th Amendment would certainly not hurt the President but rather show him as a strong leader who can stand above party politics when it comes to the interest of the country.

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