York from flooding after major storms . Hari sreenivasan examines that as part of our coping with Climate Change series. As people continue to clean up from Hurricane Sandy, we look at what it could take to keep this damage from happening again. Brown ray suarez updates the Health Care Reform law, as the Obama Administration issues new rules governing what insurers must cover. Woodruff and we close under the bright lights of High School Football, where a trailblazing coach puts her players studies ahead of practice. You wont be playing football. We like to think we have a lot of life to live so you will too and you need to prepare for that. Football is kind of just icing on the brown thats all ahead on tonights newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by bnsf railway. And by the alfred p. Sloan foundation. Supporting science, technology, and improved Economic Performance and Financial Literacy in the 21st century. And with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff this was a day of urgent diplomacy aimed at stopping the battle of air strikes and rockets between israel and hamas. Rumors of a ceasefire flew all day, and secretary of state clinton arrived in the region after nightfall. She met first with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, and called for more than just a temporary truce. The rocket attacks from terrorist organizations inside gaza on israeli cities and towns must end and a broader calm restored. The goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of israelis and palestinians alike. Brown Prime Minister netanyahu said hell take whatever military action is necessary. Underscoring that point, the israelis launched new air strikes after dark. We have a report from john ray of independent Television News in gaza. And a warning, some of the images may be disturbing. Reporter they packed in a panic, loading cars and donkey carts. Tonight israel warned palestinians to evacuate the border, to head to the safety of gaza city wher. Whether war or peace was heading their way, these people took no chances and fled. Too late for this boy who woke today to a nightmare that will never end. He has just found out that his father and brothers are dead. They dont dare tell his sister. She lies in a side ward, her back broken, a family shattered. Nothing. Nothing. All the children. Reporter where their house once stood there is now a deep crater. Evidently this was a precision strike. Israel says it has hit only terrorist targets. People here are emotional. The desire to make israel pay for all this destruction, all this death. At the same time theres a yearning for peace to bring this killing to an end. This is a war that seems to be ending on a bang not a wimper. The last few hours this evening have seen both sides intensify hostilities. Theres been no holding back even as peace beckons. And in the hospital another family tragedy unfolds. A girl cries for her father that he has perished. In intensive care there are more children all with blast injuries, all fighting for their lives. He tells me his people will never give up their struggle. Ceasefire or no ceasefire, the cycle of violence and suffering have spanned another generation. Woodruff the palestinians have reported more than 130 killed since the Israeli Offensive began. The Israeli Death toll rose to five today, when a rocket blast killed a soldier and a civilian contractor. John irvine, of independent Television News, filed this report from southern israel. Reporter on its way into the front garden of a family home, the palestinian rocket cut the tops of trees and severed a power cable. But the engineers in their flak jackets had it fixed within a couple of hours. Routine stuff in an israeli time hit. Town hit by dozens of rockets in the last week. The lady of the house knew this had been a close call and was furious. She said, we live in fear and under fire. We cant take the children outside. We cant go anywhere. That nobody was injured was thanks to a Warning System fitted to every house in the town. When it goes off, it gets everyones attention. When you hear it, you run . Yep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. Reporter this time so close to the gaza strip. When the alarm goes off residents have just 15 seconds to make it to safety. On this occasion the homeowner came through here and got into her bomb proof room just in time. For more than a decade, palestinian rockets have been part of life here. But the intensity of the attacks of the last week has brought everything to a standstill. Its an alarm for 20 times. Reporter previous ceasefires have been nothing more than pauses. People here need a permanent end to this. Brown and im joined now by dennis ross, a longtime u. S. Diplomat and mideast envoy, serving in the george h. W. Bush, clinton, and Obama Administrations. Hes now a counselor at the Washington Institute for near east policy. And khaled elgindy, a palestinian participant in the 2007 annapolis peace negotiations, and now a fellow at the saban center for middle east policy at the brookings institution. I want to start with you. Your reading on where things stand tonight in termed of a pause or ceasefire. I do think the outlines of the ceasefire have probably been shapedded at this point. I think the secretary of state is there and has a chance to finalize this by, in a sense, becoming the, i think, the repository of the commitments that each side has made. I think one of the things thats going on right now is trying to make certain that all the understandings are understood the same way by each side and whatever promises are being made will now be promises made to her as well. In effect she becomes almost the holder of those as a kind of deposit. That, i think, is a chance for the ceasefire to actually be implemented and gives it more of a chance to endure. But these things from my experience having done a lot of this in the past are never done until you actually see them implemented. Brown what can be said about the palestinian stance in terms of what it would take to get the ceasefire . On the palestinian side its obviously a very different dynamic. On the palestinian side youre dealing with a divided authority essentially. You have hamas that is running the show in the gaza strip. And president abbas in the west bank. Hillary clinton is really only able to meet with one side. Its a side that doesnt have any say in what happens on the ground. Brown you should explain that. Shes only able to, by law, really, right, to talk to. Thats right. Its one of the complicating realities in this kind of dysfunctioningal dynamic. And as the egyptians are playing a prominent role because theyre one of the few parties that can actually talk to anyone. Brown does president abbas have any influence of whats going on in gaza at this point . At this point he does not. He has been marginalized over the years. He was push out. His leadership was pushed out of gaza in 2007 by hamas which had won an election in 2006. But the situation between these two rival factions had gotten to the point where it was essentially a civil war. Brown theres been a lot of talk in recent days about hamas gaining influence in gaza certainly, in the region. How do you see that, whats going . Well, theres certainly a focal point in this conflict but i would say the one who has really gained influence is egypt. Here is egypt. Prior to the time that the new egypt emerged in the last years of the mubarak regime was playing less and less of a role within the region. Now here we have president morsi even though hes a new egyptian president and the preoccupation is primarily internal and economic, the fact is hes the one who is brokering this. Brown is it even more than Hillary Clinton. You were saying she comes in and plays this role of sort of repository, but is it more the egyptians who are the power brokers here . Yes. Brown really . Ecause the egyptians have a relationship with hamas. Whats interesting, notwithstanding that this is a new Egyptian Government that is dominated by theni Muslim Brotherhood and the Muslim Brotherhood has been fundamentally hostile to israel. To recognize where they are in the region, to recognize they have to preserve the peace treaty with israel, here they are brokering between hamas and israel. Its a new role for this government but it also shows that theyre playing a very significant place within the region right now. Brown what do you think about that . And also this question of hamas gaining a kind of legitimacy through all of this through egyptians, other Foreign Ministers coming to gaza and leaving abbas out of it. Hes sort of out in the cold. I agree with ambassador ross. The egyptians have been playing a very prominent role, but i think we cant ignore the fact that hamas has been greatly em imoald ened even since the attacks began, even since the assassination of their top military commander, their popularity, their stock, if you will, in the region has skyrocketed while their rivals in the west bank have plummeted smed even were at a situation now where the exact opposite of the intended outcome is what we have. The policy has been for the last five years to support and build up the leadership in the west bank. Brown the u. S. Policy. The u. S. Policy, right. And to minimize and weaken througsanctions and diplomatic d other means to. The Hamas Authority in the west bank. Today we have the egyptians and tarries and other egyptian leaders visiting hamas, emboldening them and legitimizing them. The americanbacked Palestinian Authority is on the verge of financial collapse. Essentially you cannot have the definition of a failed policy is when it achieves the exact opposite of its intended outcome. Its roley time for a dramatic shift in how the United States approaches this entire issue. Brown what do you think about that . A failed u. S. Policy over there . Lets take a step back. One of the reasons hamas is also emerging is because each of these actors that we see coming to deal with hamas are also basically islamists. We have an islamist government in egypt now its a very different government than the one before. The fact that turkey is there. Again, you have the a. K. P. , this is basically an it many laik party. Qatar hasnt met an it lackic party it doesnt like. What you have is the rise of political islam. Its not a big surprise that hamas felt em imoald ened to try to change the rules of the game with the israelis and the israelis came back and decided not going to change the rules of the game. I think there is a great deal of sort of Popular Support for the moment for hamas, but i think as those within gaza begin to think through, lrmt h all right, what did we actually gain out of this . How are we really better off, i wonder whether or not the same kind of sense of popularity will remain as strong as it is right now. Brown are you suggesting that the u. S. Should now be talking directly to hamas . Im not. Im suggesting that the u. S. Should allow palestinians to talk to one another because as long as you have a dysfunctional palestinian policy, youre going to have a dysfunctional situation on the negotiating track with abbas, and on the security track of gaza with visavis hamas. Neither of these tracks are going well. The only way to fix it, in my view, is to have a unified palestinian house where the hamas folks are reined in and are checked. The only way to do that is to. Is by building up Mahmoud Abbas and his fatah faction in the west bank. Brown in our last minute, what happens overnight and tomorrow as we watch Hillary Clint ob meeting with some of these players . My guess is that she is going to try to make certain that, in fact, there is a common set of understandings that, in fact, dont require additional clarification. I think that theres very clear promises that are made. I think shell try to be as precise as she can be to make sure the understandings are shared by everyone. Then i think theres a potential for implementation. I hope that this takes place because i think if you dont nail it down very quickly, then you run the risk of it unraveling. Brown does nailing down mean a shortterm ceasefire or is there a potential for something longer term . I think theres a potential for something longer term. I think thats one of her values of her being there. Had she not come, a ceasefire would have taken hold but you couldnt be certain that it couldnt have broken down again within a short period of time. Brown a brief last word. Do you think theres a potential for a longer term . I think if its just going to bring an end to the violence and its purely on the bilateral hamasisrael track and only deals with that issue independent of the broader. This is part of an israelipalestinian conflict going on for decades. You cant extract hamas and gaza from that equation. As much as american policy has trieded i think it is an artificial kind of reality that theyre opposing. Were seeing the realities of that. You cannot have a functional diplomatic track and you cant have a durable ceasefire on the gaza track either. Brown all right. Khaled elgindy and dennis ross, thank you both very much. Woodruff if you want to learn more about the origins of woodruff if you want to learn more about the origins of hamas, the council on Foreign Relations has published a hamas primer that you can read on our web site. Still to come on the newshour, an almostfull house of representatives; barriers to keep out the next superstorm; new rules for Health Insurance companies; and a football coach with academic priorities. But first, the other news of the day. Heres hari sreenivasan. Sreenivasan rebels in syria claimed a major victory today. They seized control of a large army base on the outskirts of aleppo. The rebels captured tanks, armored vehicles, and truckloads of munitions. After four days of intense fighting with Government Forces, it was one of their biggest hauls of weapons since the uprising began. Meanwhile, syrian troops battled to dislodge rebels from a stronghold just outside damascus. Frances combat mission in afghanistan is coming to an end, well ahead of a 2014 deadline to withdraw. 500 french soldiers pulled out of a base in a region northeast of kabul today. Some 1,500 other french troops will remain, to pack up equipment and train afghan forces. France had 4,000 soldiers in afghanistan at the height of the war. At least 88 died in the conflict. Rebels in eastern congo have taken the key city of goma, forcing congolese Government Forces to withdraw. Thousands of refugees fled today as the rebels pushed into the city. Some 1,500 u. N. Peacekeepers and armor stood aside, and did not try to block the advance. Congo has accused neighboring rwanda of backing the rebels in an effort to control the regions mineral wealth. Federal prosecutors in new york announced charges today in what could be the single biggest Insider Trading payoff ever. Mathew martoma allegedly used confidential information about an alzheimers drug to make more than a quarterbillion dollars. At the time, in 2006, he managed a hedge fund portfolio. For more, we turn to David Voreacos of bloomberg news. Thank you for having me. Sreenivasan first off how did this alleged scream work. What kind of information was being traded . Well, the prosecutors today in new york allege that a Hedge Fund Advisor at f. A. C. Capital advisors in connecticut which is run by billionaire steve cohen gathered inside information about an alzheimers cli. kal drug trial that was being conducted. Based on that information he built a position of 700 million in the two Drug Companies that were running the trial. Through his connections with a neurologist at the university of michigan, he gathered inside information about the progress of that clinical drug trial first building the position in the stock when he thought the trial was going well and then when he affirmatively learned it was not going so well he had the sell all of its shares and stock options. Gained or avoided losses of 276 million. What do we know about this firm and this individual . Some of his employees have been in the cross hairsni before. Cohen had one of the best track records on wall street in terms of running his hedge fund. Hes had returns averaging 30 a year since 1992. He personally is worth about 8 billion. Six of his employees have been criminally charged in the last three years in the wall street crackdown on Insider Trading by u. S. Attorney ferreira. Thats out of about 70 or 75 people who have been charged. So far cohen himself has not been charged by the u. S. Justice department or by the securities and exchange commission. Sreenivasan thanks so much. Sreenivasan the days other Major Business story involved hewlett packard. The Company Announced that a british firm acquired last year had lied about its finances. As a result, h. P. Said its taking a charge of 8. 8 billion against earnings. H. P. Stock fell 12 in trading today. Wall street as a whole also struggled to make any headway. The Dow Jones Industrial average lost more than seven points to close at 12,788. The nasdaq rose more than half a point to close above 2916. In britain, two former editors at the news of the world tabloid were hit with new charges today in the countrys phone hacking scandal. Prosecutors say andy coulson and Rebekah Brooks bribed Public Officials for stories and information. It emerged last year that journalists at the nowdefunct news of the world routinely hacked voicemails of celebrities, politicians and other figures in the news. An end to the aids epidemic is now in sight. The u. N. Nations aids program held out that hope today in its annual report. The report said some 34 Million People worldwide were living with h. I. V. , the aids virus, at the end of 2011. There were two and a half million new infections, but that was down 20 from 2001. And deaths from aids fell to 1. 7 million, more than half a million below the peak year of 2005. The puppeteer who gave life to elmo on sesame street resigned today amid allegations that he sexually abused young boys. The latest came in a lawsuit charging that kevin clash engaged in sexual behavior with a College Student who was underage at the time. Clash then resigned, saying the issue was diverting attention from sesame street. He joined the pbs program 28 years ago and made elmo one of its most popular characters. Former New Hampshire senator Warren Rudman has died due to complications of lymphoma. Rudman served in the u. S. Senate from 1980 to 1993 and co authored the grammrudman hollings act in 1985. It was designed to balance the federal budget by 1991, but congress kept rolling back the timetable. After leaving the senate, rudman cofounded the concord coalition, which still advocates a balanced budget. Warren rudman was 82 years old. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff and to politics. Two weeks after election day, a disputed congressional contest in florida was settled this morning, when Tea Party Member allen west of florida said he would not contest the results. He was trailing democrat Patrick Murphy by fewer than 2,000 votes. The seat will add to the democrats numbers, though republicans still hold the majority. Here to walk us through how each party fared is Nathan Gonzales of the rothenberg political report, and a contributor to roll call. So, months ago there were some democrats who were talking about maybe were going to retake the majority in the house. As you closer to the election, those expectations were really lowered. How is it turning out . It looks like democrats will have a net gain of eight seats. There is one outstanding race in North Carolina which congressman Mike Mcintyre is going to a recount. Hes ahead. I think its likely hell stay. There will be a net gain of eight seats which is far short of the 25 that they needed to get back to the majority. But when you look at some of the closest races, these last eight or nine races that were the closest in the. And the latest to be decided they all broke toward the democrats. It is really a difference between an okay night for democrats gaining seats and almost a disastrous nights for democrats. Woodruff how do you explain it . Is it the commonality among these last races, these really close ones that were called after the election . I dont think theres one issue among the closest races where you could say this was on Social Security or it was on medicare, but when you look at our tossup races we had going into election day, a majority of them were in three key areas. They were in illinois, california, and new england. Those are all places where the president did very well. I think that even though going into election day those were close races, but the undecideds were president obama voters. They also broke for the Democratic Congressional candidate. Woodruff in a way there was maybe coat tail as part of the president s race. In states where they werent swing states the races were places where the president did well. I think Democratic Candidates benefited. Woodruff as you look at the country overall, nathan, is there a trend, is there a story to be told about who did a better job, which party or the other did a better job of targeting these races . I think some of it is geographic. You had democrats strengthening and dem trattic states and democratic regions such as new england where theres no longer, theres no House Republicans in new england right now. Woodruff at all. At all. Theres senator snow who is kind of holding down the fort there but. Then you saw republicans strengthening their grip on the south. There were key races that went republican in oklahoma, arkansas, kentucky, North Carolina. The republicans took over from moderate to conservative democrats. Those are going to be very tough for democrats to get back in future elections. Woodruff youve also said that there really werent that much surprises. You usually expect some surprises. How do you account for that . I mean, what explains that . Reporter we were. I was surprised that there were no surprises because we saw it in the primaries. We saw members that didnt take the races seriously. They werent running a good campaign. I assume that out of the hundreds of members running, someone was going to be asleep at the wheel but i think the parties probably did a good job of polling a little bit deeper into districts. We werent really talking about to try to snuff out any potentially surprises before they bubbled up to be big problems. Woodruff you were telling us earlier theres a lot of conversation right now about the polling on the part of republicans in many of these house races. What are people looking at here . Theres been a lot of attention on the republican polling in the president ial races and some of the senate races. They had similar problems in house races. I think what happened is we have to remember in 2010 republican pollsters were getting numbers out of the field that were very republican. They looked like outliers compared to the democratic numbers. They were right in 2010. When we come to 2010 republican pollsters were getting numbers that looked a little bit too republican. Instead of throwing those numbers out they said we look like outliers but mayor were right once again. Theres just a failure to understand what electorate was going to come out in a president ial year. Woodruff there would be more folks readied to vote democratic. I dont think republicans believed that 2012 would look anything like 2008. It ended up looking pretty similar. Woodruff with the house, a pickup of eight, we believe, a net pickup of eight for the democrats. Does that change things legislatively or psychologically in the house. Functionally it doesnt change a lot. Psychologically i think it does have an impact because in the competitive races, the 68 competitive races, in almost everyone of them the top democratic attack was on the paul ryan budget. It was on Social Security and on medicare. Now what we have is dozens of republicans who weathered those attacks and they came out on top. So when they come to a fiscal cliff negotiation, theyre saying why should we compromise when you attacked us on the paul ryan budget and were Still Standing . Voters voted for us. So i think its less likely were going to see kind of a grand compromise because both sides are very entrenched. Woodruff even with that small pickup of democrats in the house and even though the president ial vote was bigger than the overall House Republican vote . Right. I mean thats. Both camps, you know,. Woodruff well have an argument. I think when it comes to the. Theres all sorts of discussion on the fiscal cliff. President obama and Speaker Boehner are probably more willing to compromise, but their caucuses and their parties are very entrenched. I dont think we know whats going to happen out of this. Woodruff we certainly dont. Nathan gonzales of the rothenberg political report, thank you for coming back to talk to us. Thank you so much. Brown now that new york and new jersey have been hit by two destructive storms in less than two years, theres new urgency to questions about steps to better protect the region. Hari sreenivasan is back with that story, part of our series on coping with Climate Change. How are we doing in here . Sreenivasan ronnie forester has been working every day to put his statten island house back together again before christmas. Foresters home was elevated but it wasnt high enough to save it from sandy. Well, my house is six feet off the ground. We have four feet of water on our living floor. So you figure at least ten feet of water from where we stand now. Imagine going into your house and everything in there has to be thrown out. Everything. Sreenivasan weeks after Hurricane Sandy ripped through the northeast, thousands of homeowners like the foresters are gutting out their houses and rebuilding. Now that the immediate shock has worn off, many residents are starting to think about the future and what can be done to prevent storm damage like this. If happened again next year we would probably pack it in. Were going to stay. Were rebuilding and doing it now. I mean, and hopefully we dont have another hurricane for 40 years. Reporter but that hope is being dashed by warnings from many climate scientists who say storms with damage on this scale could occur more frequently. I think one of the really powerful and alarming things about sandy for me is that if the upper end of Sea Level Rise projections for new york city come to pass by late this century, we should expect to see sandylevel floods every 15 years or so. Sreenivasan ben strauss of Climate Central studies how rising seas affect coastal areas around the United States. He and other scientists project seas to rise another two feet by 2100. While sandy was staggering, sealevel rise made it even worse. We know today that the global sea level is eight inches higher from Global Warming than it was in the late 19th century. We know that the storm surge from sandy started eight inches higher than it would have started without Global Warming. Reporter new york decided to study the problem in 2008 when it created a task force to address Climate Change. But sandy has escalated the discussion about how new york can cope with rising water. From finding ways to live with flooding to holding back storm surge to retreating from coastal areas altogether. This man is a oashianing on rafer at the Stevens Institute of technology. He said the region needs to focus first on forestalling flooding. The First Options that are easiest to do are to basically plug the holes in the city, find solutions for blocking up the subways and the electrical infrastructure and the highway tunnels so next time when a storm surge is coming we can close all those up. Theres also rebuilding the wetlands and the oyster beds that used to be in the harbor out at the entrance. Those things we show with our storm surge model can reduce the storm surge in the population areas inside jamaica bay of brooklyn and queens. Sreenivasan but those smallscale approaches only go so far. A bolder approach is barriers like these massive sea walls in new orleans that stop high waters from moving inland. That may sound extreme. But barriers like these in the netherlands have been tried and tested over time. They could be models for new york, says Malcolm Bowman an oceanographer who studies storm surge barriers at stonybrook university. The barriers would only be closed for perhaps three or four hours at a time when a major storm hits the city and the tides are rising and the surge is sitting on top of a high tide. Thats the dangerous time. Reporter bowman called together several engineering firms in 2009 to develop sea wall designs for various points around new york. These are not yet official proposals, merely concepts. A 6. 5 billion dollar idea for a barrier just north of the bridge with sliding doors that would be closed during a storm. A 1. 5 billion dollar 1700foot long system of mechanical swing gates on the arthurs hill river and the most ambitious plan is also the one that could protect the most shoreline. A 6 billion gateway that would stretch five miles across the outer new York New Jersey harbor plus the billions necessary to reinforce nearly ten miles of natural dunes on either side of the barrier. While the cost of mitigating the impact of a future storm could seem high, take a look at this tile. This is just a sliver of the debris that sandy left behind on statten island. Not preparing could cost much more. Here in the far rockaways the surge crushed dozens of houses and hurricane winds fanned flames from a fire that incinerated 111 homes. The city of new york has decided to clear away whats left here along with demolishing 200 more structures damaged by the storms. It was my living room couches but it flipped them over in the house. Just pouring water out of them today. Reporter rich has had a view of the Atlantic Ocean from his waterfront home for more than 20 years. Now hes living in a motor home in the parking lot. But he wonders whether a sea barrier would be effective. Is it worth it . Im not so sure its worth it because im not so sure its going to work. I dont know how youre going to stop that kind of power. Putting a sea wall out there. If it would work, okay. Who is going to guarantee it . Spending that kind of money for something that might not work. nr sreenivasan its a point that even the netherland concedes. The country has relied on levy systems for centuries. They admit that even their strongest levees might not withstand the Climate Changed seas that are coming. There are also concerns of environmental impacts from these new structures. We reduce the amount of water that comes in and out from the ocean. Then you reduce the amount of cleansing of the water from pollution which is already a problem in harbors. Sreenivasan some new yorkers like ronnie forester say they dont want their view blocked by barriers. I definitely dont want to look out to the ocean and see a giant wall out there. I mean, i would imagine youd have to build a 20foot sea wall. It just doesnt make any sense to me. Sreenivasan Malcolm Bowman says the ideas should at least be investigated. You have to make a choice. Do you want safety, security or do you want a view that is not impeded . What we need now from the city of new york to request the army corps of engineers do a sophisticated analysis of the pros and cons of storm surge barriers. This is a big, big responsibility, a big job. It would take several years to do that. That is the next step. No one is is suggesting that the new york city start pouring concrete next week. Sreenivasan for residents like this woman of coney island right now the safest solution seems to be a very personal one to move. My kids, you know, were born and raised here. Its very hard to just pick up and leave. You have roots here. But i dont want to go through this again. Sreenivasan even those who are ready to leave want the city to take action against future storm damage. But as the region still battles to recover from the storm, the debate over how to prevent the next disaster is just beginning. Woodruff online later tonight we have a closer look at the design that might protect new york from another hu woodruff later tonight, we have a closer look at the designs that might protect new york from another hurricane, and the problems engineers will grapple with in their construction. In our next report, newshour economics correspondent paul solman examines how insurers assess the risk of Climate Change. Brown and we turn to an issue that loomed large before and throughout the election campaign, the survival of obamacare, the Health Care Reform law. With democrats retaining control of the white house and the senate, the questions now how will the law work . And to what extent will states participate . Ray suarez has our update. Suarez the law allows many uninsured americans to buy new coverage beginning in 2014 through new marketplaces known as health care exchanges. States can set up their own federally subsidized exchanges or opt to let the federal government run one for them. At least 17 states plus the District Of Columbia have set up their own. But some 20 others many led by republican governors wont and may leave the task to the federal government. Five others want to partner with the administration. Six have not decided on a path yet. State officials also say theyve been waiting for federal rules on a whole host of provisions including what insurers must cover as essential health care benefits. The Obama Administration released some of those regulations today. For a look at with where things stand im joined by susan dentzer, the editor of the Journal Health affair and an analyst for a newshour. Susan, the election is over. Some of the ambiguity about what to do about the Affordable Care act i guess has gone away now that the speaker has said its the law of the land. Has all the dust settled . Is it settling . It slowly beginning to settle, ray. As you said lots of regulations were issued today. More will be forth coming in the coming weeks. Of course some of the big questions, what will happen with respect to Medicaid Expansion remain undecided. But essentially what we have now is a situation where, as we said, a number of states are moving ahead to set up their Health Insurance exchanges. These will be websites in effect up and running, ready for open enrollment on october 1 of 2013. So literally just around the corner. Suarez i have a extended the deadline for opting in or out. Are there some states on the bubble that may yet come in with this extension . Very clearly. The states now have until mid december to tell the federal government what their plans are. If they want to set up an exchange in partnership with the federal government, they have until the middle of february so tell the federal government that. Then, of course, even as states make a preliminary decision now, they are allowed to change their minds at any point in the future. If they decide two years down the road from now that they want to open up a state exchange, they have the authority under the law to do that. Suarez if youre sitting at home watching this and you live in one of the some 20 states that have either made it absolutely clear theyre not participating or are very likely to finally make that decision, what happens to you . You will be able to access Health Insurance anyway through an exchange that the federal government will either set up in your state. Suarez its a market. Its a market. For the bulk of consumers should think of this as a website. Thats how they will really interface with these exchanges much the way they go online now to travelocity or another website to set up travel arrangements. It will be a similar kind of a thing. Youll go, if youre in a state where the governor or the legislature has decided not to go forward with an exchange, youll have one anyway. It will probably be called the name of your state. You just wont know necessarily that its actually run by the federal government and specifically by federal or private contractors who the federal government has engaged to actually operate the exchange. Theres also the possibility of a nationwide exchange being formed as well, a federal backup exchange. The federal government hasnt said a lot about that but thats possibly in the offing as well. Suarez now, did the administration contemplate when they were painstakingly setting up the architecture for the Affordable Care act that they may have to go into run the exchanges for almost two dozen states . They certainly did contemplate it. Thats why shortly after the law was signed, they got to work discussing how to do this basically hiring the private sector vendors that will be putting the exchanges together. Theyre prepared to do it. Keep in mind that under the medicare drug benefit program, the federal government has a kind of a similar setup now that allowed people to begin to select their drug coverage policies under medicare several years ago. So its not a really particularly exotic thing. For the federal government to be doing even though its never done anything on quite this scale. Suarez is there a paradox embedded in all this that governors who adamantly insisted that they didnt want the federal government nosin nosingn their affairs have, by refusing to participate, essentially invited the federal government in to run these marketplaces . There is indeed a paradox. And a further one is that the states are insisting that they want to be able to control and manage their Health Insurance policies that are sold within the state. Just today members of the administration insisted that thats what they want too. They want the states to set up these exchanges. They want the states to be deciding which plans can come into the exchange. The states have the option of running these in a very rigorous way where they negotiate with Health Insurers very hard on what the prices will be or they can take a more handsoff approach and let more plans come in and not negotiate so hard. But states have the ability to make those decisions. The federal government said you should. You should, states, you should do that. We would rather you do that than us come in and pick your plans. It is eye ronic. Suarez you mentioned earlier that the federal government announced new rules today on various parts of the Affordable Care act. They made two big announce manies on drugs and on preexisting conditions. What did they have to say . The big announcement on the essential Health Benefits was to change what the plans in every state, the benchmark plan, that is to say, the plan that will be the standard package of benefits offered in every state, in each state, they said that earlier the administration had contemplated that those plans would only have to offer one drug, one medication in each particular class of drugs. They revised that just slightly today and said it actually has to be either one drug or, if the state picks a benchmark plan that has more than one drug in every class, then that becomes the minimum. So its a little bit more choice. This was an important issue for Patient Advocacy groups that are worried about chronic illnesses and things like that. They want to make sure that patients have the ability to pick one or more drugs because sometimes one given drug in every class doesnt work as well for everybody. So having a little bit more choice was attractive to them and the administration has acceded to that. Suarez preexisting conditions. Preexisting restrictions ratified what had been known already which is that as of 2014 those will go away. There is a little bit more detail on some other aspects of regulations. For example, new age rating rules. Now Health Insurance plan pricing which used to be quite broad depending on whether you were younger or older now has to be much more limited. A plan for an older person can only be about three times more expensive than for a younger person. So those rules were clarified. How those rating bands as theyre called are set were clarified today. Suarez susan dentzer, thanks for joining us. Great to be with you, woodruff find out what kind of Health Exchange plan your state is building. Go online to see our interactive map. Brown finally tonight, thanksgiving is about family and turkey, yes. But its also about football especially High School Football, as teams around the country battle archrivals or play in championship games. Recently i talked with an unusual High School Football coach about success on the field and off. Its part of our american graduate project, our series on the High School Dropout problem. A High School Science teacher with a finely developed sense of the psychology of teenaged boys. You have to prove yourself. No. . You have to prove how tough you are . No. They have enough fun proving how tough they are with each other. Brown that keeps them busy. That keeps them busy long enough. Randolph, 32, is slightly biment and has a highpitched voice but she is plenty tough. All the way up. Hurt. So what. Pain is weakness leaving the body. Brown tough enough in fact to be head football coach at Coolidge High School in washington d. C. Come on. Keep going. Keep going. Brown shes believed to be the only woman in the country to hold such a position. That put her in the media spotlight when she took the job nearly three years ago. While im proud to be part of what this all means being female has nothing to do with it. I love football. I love football. I love teaching. I love these kids. Brown the tension only grew last year as randolph coached her team into the citys championship game, the annual turkey bowl played on thanksgiving. Randolph grew up in washington, graduated from the university of virginia, and played football herself for six years with the d. C. Divas, a professional womens league. But if shes passionate about football and focused on winning, shes also quite clear about priority. Football as a means towards staying and excelling in school. Academics come first. We always, all of my coaches, we all preach to them, when you get our age you wont be playing football. We like to think we have a lot of life to live so you will too. You need to prepare for that. Football is just icing on the cake. Brown how do you break it down . Im one of your kids here, right . And i just want to go out and practice. I dont want to go study. We tell them you have to be a whole person. You have to be smart. Youre not going to be very effective on the football field if youre not smart and youre not good at studying, analyzing things. These colleges, you know, they have hundreds of applicants to choose from, hundreds of players to choose from that are just as big, strong and fast as you are. Whats going to set you i part is your character and your academics. Brown part of being a whole person, sea shiz graduating from high school. As elsewhere around the country, thats a major problem in the city where randolph teaches. A High School Graduation rate in washington d. C. Last year was under 60 . And Like Public School teachers elsewhere, she sees the realities facing many of her students. Their responsibilities at home and outside of school sometimes that will pull them away. They, you know, figure that its hes for them to get a job at this point so they can sustain whatever needs to be sustained. They dont come back to school. Or some of them are so far behind, you know, a, academicaly they get frustrated so why bother. Brown all are required to attend a study hall monday through thursday before practice begins. Who messed you up . Nobody messed you but you. You earned them grades. Reporter randolph and two other teachers run the session hitting the students athletes over the head with the football facts of life. When the College Coaches come here and they ask me what your g. P. A. Is theyre not worried about the g. P. A. On here. On your transcript that says cumulative g. P. A. Theyre not worried about that. What theyre worried about is your g. P. A. Of these combined 16 courses. Brown she also mentors her charges in a variety of other ways. I come to her when im having trouble in a class. She talks with me so i dont give up, keep pushing through it. Everything will not go your way. She all wants us to succeed and go to college at the next level even if its not footballwise. If its academicwise she still wants us to do that. Brown randolphs success on and off the field has attracted praise from local leaders. You need to have a full array of opportunities that are going to attract kids. Interscholastic athletics is one of the best dropout prevention programs we can have. Shes shown how to leverage the Football Team to keep these young men, you know, on the Straight Path but also to graduate from high school. Brown one former player is now at Shaw University in North Carolina. He credits randolph with getting him there. My grades improved from a c average to a b. When i was being coached by coach randolph like she pushed academics had. It was school first and then football. The majority of kids nowadays are focused on sports. Brown he spent much of his childhood moving from one homeless shelter to another. Randolph taught him important life lessons. Its always. She told me something to help me do everything. If its not hard its not worth it. When im in class and i have a big paper write, i always go to her and she always tells me that. If its not hard its not worth it. It sounds sappy but if they know that you love them, they will work. If they know that you care about what theyre going through and understand what theyre going through, theyll work. They make mistakes. They fall. We pick them back up and show them what they did wrong. They fix it. They do it again. They eventually get it. In the end they always get it. Brown you used the word sappy. Im thinking of football which is violent. In football you have to show how tough you are. Here you are talking about love. You dont see a disconnect . I mean, they will go out there and theyll run into each other and hit and whatever they need to do. Last not the hard part. About it. They need to know that theyre going to be cared for in order to make that sacrifice. They need to know theyre not making that sacrifice for nothing. Brown in fact, life on the field got harder this year for randolph and the coolidge colts. The good news, more than 20 seniors from last years team graduated. The bad news that left a much younger and less experienced group behind. The team went 39 this season and wont be playing in the turkey bowl. Leaves Natalie Randolph the teacher sounding like football coaches everywhere. It sucks to lose. Every coach wants to win. I want to win. Some games we could have won, you know. Brown still success here is measured in many ways. Coolidges Young Players did end their season with a victory. Online we have more from coach brown online we have more from coach randolphs former student chuck gaines. Read about his journey from being a homeless teen to a college freshman. American graduate is a public Media Initiative funded by the corporation for public broadcasting. Woodruff shes an inspiration. One of the problems driving low Graduation Rates is poverty. Tonights edition of frontline focuses on the challenges poor students face in all aspects of their lives. It follows three young girls growing up amid a flagging economy. This excerpt shows how an Illinois School tries to help families make ends meet. First change this. If this is a good time for you, would you like to send your students down for the Nutrition Club . Ill have them down there shortly. Thank you very much. Knew Nutrition Club students can stand up. Line up. Youll be going down there in just a moment. Push the chairs up . Yes. This is a bag of food that you get every friday. You have to make last the whole weekend. They announce in class that you have to go down for a Nutrition Club, if youre in it. You have to go to the office. You have to sign your name in for it. Then you go put it in your locker. Then you go back to class. People. Good morning, brit knee. How are you doing . Is monica here yet . Not yet. Shes on our waiting list. Shes there. Make sure you put it in your locker right away. You can go from feeling okay, not having to go hungry to this. Going mung reand having to pay all your bills and not being able to. On the verge of being homeless again. Youve got to match the coupons with the pictures. Theyll probably give you just enough to where you think youre going to win and then you dont. How much do the pizzas cost . Five of them for 10. They taste like it too. Mom, i found a match. Instead of vegetables, we eat pizzas and stuff. Because thats all we can afford. Fruits and vegetables are more expensive than pizzas. We like the fruits and vegetables a few weeks ago because we had the money then. Brown poor kids airs tonight on most pbs stations. Again, the major developments of the day. Rumors of a possible truce between israel and hamas flew all day, but air strikes and rocket fire continued. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrived in jerusalem and called for a durable outcome that promotes stability in the region. What is the proper etiquette for dealing with potential employers . Hari sreenivasan has the details. Sreenivasan this week on ask the headhunter, how do you know when its appropriate to call an employer and tips for navigating the online application. Thats on the rundown. Also, we talked to a Senior Advocate for Refugees International on how syrian refugee camps are preparing for winter. All that and more is on our web site, newshour. Pbs. Org. Jeff . Brown and thats the newshour for tonight. On wednesday, Margaret Warner reports from the syriaturkey border, on the spillover of fighting and the flood of refugees. Im jeffrey brown. Woodruff and im judy woodruff. Well see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. Thank you, and good night. 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