TASK DEFINITION: Generate an explanation for the given claim using the provided supporting material from the paragraph. Please consider the following points while generating an output. 1) The claim will always have supporting proof in the paragraph, and the paragraph will have a clear point of view supporting the claim. 2) There can be instances where direct correlation to the claim is not available. Make use of the sentences in the paragraph to provide a corresponding output supporting the claim. 3) The explanation should be at least one and at most twelve sentences long.
PROBLEM: Paragraph: Gov. Brian Kemp said proposed changes to former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act would give individuals and families less expensive coverage options, a particular benefit for those who don’t qualify for federal subsidies to cover premiums. “They’re going to work to reduce costs, make health care more accessible and have better quality in our state,” Kemp said in a statement. Critics say it would drive up insurance costs for older and sicker people. Kemp also wants to offer subsidized coverage to a fraction of Georgia’s uninsured poor if they worked or went to school for 80 or more hours a month. Kemp’s administration projects the expansion would cover 50,000 people, far less than the 400,000 uninsured Georgians who might be covered by the Medicaid expansion originally envisioned by the overhaul. This second proposal, aimed at people earning incomes of up to 100% of the federal poverty level, echoes those made by other states. Federal officials have rejected some similar partial expansions. But it’s the first plan, under which Georgia would take over the federal insurance marketplace and the associated funding that goes with it, that’s drawing national notice. The state would make those federal subsidies available to people who buy health plans that don’t provide the full array of benefits that the Affordable Care Act requires. Passed in 2010, Obama’s signature health care law extended insurance coverage to millions of Americans by expanding Medicaid and subsidizing premiums for individuals and families who make up to four times the federal poverty level. The law — also known as “Obamacare” — allows states to seek waivers from the federal government to change certain provisions, but only if they adhere to strict rules. The Trump administration has loosened those rules, and Kemp’s plan includes three approaches promoted by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in November 2018. Health policy experts say that change would drive up ACA premiums by drawing healthier people to less expensive, skimpier insurance plans. That would leave the ACA with a sicker patient pool. Under Kemp’s plan, Georgia residents would be required to bypass the central HealthCare.gov website to sign up for insurance. Instead, the state would redirect them to a list of approved brokers and insurers where consumers would be able to compare ACA-compliant plans side by side with plans that don’t meet ACA requirements. All plans would have to continue covering preexisting conditions. In addition to the current gold, silver and bronze level plans, Georgia would let insurers offer a new lower tier of benefits, called copper level, which would cover only about half the cost of projected expenses. The current lowest level of bronze covers about 60% of costs. The state says copper level premiums are expected to be 17% lower than bronze level premiums, on average. Georgia also would let insurers offer disease management plans aimed at helping patients manage a particular high-cost disease such as diabetes or HIV and AIDS. State officials would set an overall cap on its own subsidies at $255 million. There is no cap under the ACA, although the state doesn’t project its spending will come anywhere near the cap, even though it projects enrollment will increase by more than 37,000. The governor’s office estimates that the availability of subsidies for pared-down health plans would only increase “Obamacare” premiums by a little more than 1%. State officials say that amount would be more than offset by its intention to pay a portion of insurance companies’ costs to treat their sickest patients, a relatively small group that incurs the biggest bills. The so-called reinsurance program would allow the companies to lower monthly premiums for all customers. Twelve other states have received approval for reinsurance programs, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. State officials expect to hear by August whether Georgia has permission to implement its plans. Claim: Georgia’s Kemp submits bid to remake health insurance market.

SOLUTION: Georgia’s Republican governor on Monday submitted twin plans requesting that President Donald Trump’s administration allow changes to federal government subsidies for health insurance.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: When President Pierre Nkurunziza hands over power, it could be the first truly peaceful transfer of authority in the East African nation since independence in 1962. But the coronavirus poses a threat to the May 20 vote. Burundi has kicked out World Health Organization workers after concerns were raised. The WHO Africa director messaged the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief about political rallies the day that Burundi’s campaigning launched and images of crowds circulated online. Authorities have been accused by critics of downplaying the pandemic and citing divine protection. But the government appears to be using virus measures to limit election observers, warning the East African regional bloc on May 8 that arriving foreigners face a 14-day quarantine. More than the virus, however, it’s the fear of violence that weighs on many of the more than 5 million people eligible to vote. Government agents have been accused of harassing the main opposition party, the CNL, whose leader Agathon Rwasa is believed to be in a close race with Nkurunziza’s chosen successor in the ruling CNDD-FDD, Evariste Ndayishimiye. More than 145 CNL members have been arrested since campaigning began on April 27, according to SOS Medias Burundi, a group of independent journalists. Police spokesman Pierre Nkurikiye has accused Rwasa of making “incendiary and defamatory” remarks and inciting revolt. Rwasa, the deputy parliament speaker, has drawn large crowds despite the risks of openly supporting him, according to an online group of activists known as i-Burundi. The group worries that a rigged election could spark the kind of street demonstrations that marked the previous vote in 2015. “The ruling party was hoping to use this post-Nkurunziza election to gain a semblance of legitimacy, but given what’s happening we might end up with more violence,” i-Burundi said in an interview. “People want change. ... But the ruling party has the incumbent advantage and controls the electoral process.” Rwasa told The Associated Press he feels it’s important not to boycott the election even if the outcome is not expected to be fair. “Everything has its right time,” he said. “Right now, it is not the time to give up and abandon our people.” Ndayishimiye, a retired general, would be a weak president because he will be a front for Nkurunziza and other powerful ruling party members, said David Gakunzi, a Burundian political analyst: “He consults but he will fear to take independent decisions.” Ndayishimiye fought alongside Nkurunziza as a rebel in the civil war from 1993 to 2005 that killed about 300,000 people. Nkurunziza was chosen by lawmakers to be president during the peace process known as the Arusha Accords, which specified that a president’s term can be renewed only once. But Nkurunziza, who won a second term in 2010, said he was eligible for a third term in 2015 because he had not been chosen the first time by universal suffrage. The deadly turmoil that followed badly damaged ties with the international community, and Burundi became the first country to leave the International Criminal Court after it started investigating allegations of abuses. The U.N. human rights office reported more than 300 extrajudicial killings and was kicked out of the country. Nkurunziza survived a coup attempt shortly after the 2015 vote while traveling in Tanzania and has left Burundi only once since then. Meanwhile international donors have cut support, leaving the government struggling. It has ordered citizens to pay for the upcoming vote. Many Burundians were surprised when the president announced in 2018 that he was serving his last term. Skepticism persists. The government has approved legislation that bestows upon Nkurunziza the title of “paramount leader” after he steps down. “It’s hard to know what’s going to happen ... Nkurunziza has a track record of being quite unpredictable,” said researcher Lane Hartill of the Burundi Human Rights Initiative. “Both the ruling party and the main opposition party, the CNL, are convinced their candidates are going to win the presidential election. It’s telling, though, that government officials continue to arrest large numbers of CNL members.” Even some senior members of the ruling party are tired of rights violations and the cratering economy but are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs or being killed, Hartill said. Burundi’s government has denied allegations it targets its people, calling them malicious propaganda by dissidents. Memories of the 2015 violence are still raw. Jean Baptiste Bakunzi said he remains traumatized by his brother’s death at the hands of the police and the Imbonerakure, a militarized youth group associated with the ruling party. His brother, accused of participating in anti-government activities, “knelt down and begged them to save his life,” Bakunzi said. “Instead, one policeman pulled the trigger and shot him dead,” he said. “Whoever opposes the ruling party becomes an enemy even today.” The violence has dimmed hopes for those outside Burundi who will not be able to vote. Over 330,000 refugees are sheltering in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, according to U.N. figures. “These elections will not bring hope for us because we have lost so much,” said Solange Teta, a refugee in Rwanda. “The ruling party candidate cannot alleviate our suffering.” Sporadic violence persists. Police said two people were killed and eight wounded in a grenade attack Sunday on a bar in Bujumbura that’s a popular hangout for ruling party supporters. Opposition supporters worry the security services may retaliate. Charles Nditije, a former government minister who lives in exile, described the election as a “joke,” calling the polls a formality aimed at installing Nkurunziza’s chosen successor. “What Burundians want now is anything that can bring to (an) end the reign of CNDD-FDD. But the ruling (party) candidate will fight tooth and nail to win fraudulently and set another round of crisis,” he said. Hartill, the Burundi researcher, said disputed election results could put the country back on edge. The big question, he said, is whether the opposition leader will “say enough is enough.” ___ Ssuuna reported from Kigali, Rwanda. Eloge Willy Kaneza in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed. Claim: Burundi defies COVID-19 for election ending a bloody rule.

SOLUTION: Burundi is pushing ahead with an election on Wednesday that will end the president’s divisive and bloody 15-year rule.

PROBLEM: Paragraph: "A woman and her dog walk along the beach in this file photo. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen Snuff — ground tobacco that is high in nicotine but doesn’t generate the same additional chemicals as cigarette smoke because it’s not burned — is generally assumed to be safer than cigarettes, said lead researcher Anna Gunnerbeck, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. That’s still the case for many people, but it’s not a good option for pregnant woman, she added. “(It) may have a little bit different effect than smoking, because smoking has the combustion products, but it’s still not safe during pregnancy,” Gunnerbeck told Reuters Health. It’s possible the same may apply to nicotine gum and patches, which some doctors recommend to women trying to stop smoking during pregnancy, the researchers wrote in Pediatrics. Gunnerbeck and her colleagues got their data from records of about 610,000 babies born in Sweden between 1999 and 2006. They compared information gathered from mothers when they were a few months pregnant — including about snuff and cigarette use — with babies’ hospital records. Specifically, they were looking for a diagnosis of “apnea,” which occurs when a newborn stops breathing, sometimes accompanied by an irregular heartbeat. One or two in every 1,000 babies born to mothers who didn’t use snuff or cigarettes developed apnea. For babies whose mothers lit up during pregnancy, that risk increased by about 50 percent. And for those whose mothers used snuff, the rate was more than twice as high as in babies born to mothers who didn’t use any kind of tobacco. When the researchers took into account how early babies were born — prematurity has been linked to both maternal smoking and breathing problems in newborns — smoking alone didn’t have any extra effect on the risk of apnea. But apnea was still more common when mothers used snuff, regardless of whether babies were born early or not. Many babies with apnea will get a bit of extra care after birth and be fine, but it’s also possible that they’re more likely to have breathing problems when they’re older, including sleep apnea. Apnea may also put children at higher risk of infection later. While snuff use is more common in Sweden than elsewhere, pregnant women in other countries may also use nicotine-containing products such as gum and patches, thinking they’re safer than smoking during pregnancy. “They’re raising the concern that Swedish snuff, because it’s largely nicotine, can be a surrogate for nicotine replacement therapy during pregnancy, that it might have untoward effects,” said Michael Weitzman, who studies smoking in pregnancy at the New York University Medical Center. Gunnerbeck said the study suggests that women should be urged to stop smoking without nicotine replacements during pregnancy, but added that if looking at the whole picture, smoking is generally more dangerous than using snuff. “I think the best thing for women who smoke during pregnancy is to stop if it’s possible,” she said, adding that avoiding nicotine replacement would be best. ""(But) it's really difficult if you have a woman who smokes a lot and can't stop -- what do you do then? Always you have to consider the cases where you need (nicotine replacement) -- the women who can't stop."" SOURCE: bit.ly/qX8QVt" Claim: Which is worse in pregnancy, snuff or cigarettes?.

SOLUTION:
Babies born to snuff-using mothers were more likely to have breathing problems than those whose mothers smoked while pregnant, according to a Swedish study.