TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: "Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, campaigning for re-election, tweeted a parody of President Barack Obama promoting his signature health-care law. Around midday Dec. 12, 2013, the official White House Twitter account posted a photo of Obama holding a sign urging Americans to get health coverage because ""nobody should go broke just because they get sick."" Social media denizens started creating versions that rewrote the sign's text; Dewhurst's had Obama saying, ""I want more of Texans' private data."" Some perspective: Texas in 2012 had approximately 19.5 million insured residents and 5.2 million legal residents without insurance according to a March 18, 2013, report by the state Health and Human Services Commission. Does the Obamacare law demand private data on them that wasn't known to the government before? PolitiFact reporters have checked out several claims about how the Affordable Care Act's online marketplaces will handle personal information. Many of the concerns addressed are about how government agencies will share information they already collect -- and how secure that information will be. As part of a May 2013 fact-check, PolitiFact in Washington, D.C., reported that a federal ""data hub"" resulting from the 2010 law would pull information from government agencies, but not expand federal data collection. For example, the Social Security Administration is asked to verify a person's Social Security number, and the IRS confirms financial data to see if a person is eligible for a subsidy. PolitiFact in D.C. gave a False rating Sept. 19, 2013, to a claim by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey that ""Obamacare will question your sex life,"" finding that nothing in the health care law required such questions. So what information does the government collect under the Obamacare law? If you apply to shop in the federal online insurance marketplace or the marketplace for your state, you'll supply information on yourself and perhaps family members, some of which the government already has. Healthcare.gov offers a checklist for people preparing to fill out applications, whether online or printed: Social Security number, employer, income, current insurance policy numbers and information about your employer's insurance plans (if any). Such answers will help determine whether you're eligible to buy insurance through the marketplaces and if you can get free- or reduced-cost coverage via tax credits, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program. The standardized family application asks for information on you and everyone who lives with you, including whether you are pregnant and how many babies you're expecting, whether you have a health condition that limits daily activities, whether you live in a nursing home and whether you were in foster care after age 18. Other questions concern employment, military service, sources of income, tax deductions taken and whether you are American Indian or Alaska Native. A Sept. 18, 2013, fact sheet from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said, ""Personal health information (PHI) will be requested only when it is needed to complete the application and make an eligibility determination for health coverage options."" Health privacy expert Deven McGraw told us by email that the applications do collect some information the government did not already have, but said it's the same type of information gathered when people apply for public coverage such as Medicaid. ""They are questions that are specifically designed to match eligibility criteria. So none of it is extraneous,"" said McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, which advocates for Internet freedom. And, she said, the data can't be used for any purposes other than the marketplaces' functions. More information about you could come, the fact sheet says, from ""common federal data sources including the Social Security Administration (SSA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."" Wait -- Homeland Security? According to the National Immigration Law Center's website, applicants who are not U.S. citizens will have their status verified through a Homeland/U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service database. Agencies already use the web service, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), to determine immigrants' eligibility for benefits including Medicaid, housing loans and unemployment. Via email, Social Security spokeswoman Kia Anderson told us her agency can, when CMS needs the information to determine eligibility, provide applicants' ID numbers, citizenship data, death or disability indicators and Social Security income and coverage earned. So the application process puts together some information the government already had with some it didn't have. People who aren't applying to shop in the marketplaces but are subject to the Obamacare law's mandate will also be sharing some new information with Uncle Sam. The mandate to have or get insurance applies, according to the immigration law center, to all U.S. citizens, naturalized citizens and legal immigrants. Via email, IRS spokeswoman Lea Crusberg said 2014 tax returns will ask whether you have health coverage that meets the new standards or an exemption, whether you got coverage through an Obamacare marketplace and whether you got a tax credit to help defray the cost. The law's new tax payments and credits will also be on returns, of course. In 2015, Crusberg said, the IRS will start collecting coverage information from insurance providers. Employers who insure their own workers in-house will report which employees are enrolled and give enough information so the IRS can tell if those workers are due a tax credit. Self-insuring employers will also put the cost of the plan they're providing on W-2 forms so workers can see it. Is the new data ""private"" information? Per the CMS fact sheet, Obamacare applicants could be asked to cough up some personal health information. But the fact sheet also says the marketplaces' systems ""will not store this information"" -- which casts some doubt on whether the government is really ""collecting"" it, but serves as an indication that it's considered sensitive. How about when the IRS asks where your insurance comes from, whether you got a tax credit for it and whether it meets the Obamacare law's standards? Generally, the IRS regards what you put on your tax return as private. For example, tax preparers who disclose such information without your consent can face criminal charges. Final IRS regulations governing who can disclose what tax return information to HHS under the Obamacare law were issued Aug. 13, 2013. An FAQ posted by the IRS that day said that ""officers and employees of the IRS will disclose to HHS, the Marketplace, and state agencies only, upon written request and subject to strict privacy and security rules, certain return information ... for the purpose of determining eligibility for certain health care affordability programs."" Our ruling Dewhurst said Obama wants ""more of Texans' private data."" The subset of Texans shopping for coverage through the online marketplace are providing additional private data for a reason: to ensure they're qualified. Dewhurst's statement overlooks these aspects. Regardless, many more Texans will be asked to give the IRS information about their health coverage that was previously not requested. The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information."

SOLUTION: "In altered photo, says Barack Obama wants ""more of Texans' private data"" via health care."

PROBLEM: The coffin, one of three brought the same morning, came hours after officials said 13 elderly residents had diedin the home since March 11 and that more than 80 others were believedto have the coronavirus. Most of the dead were aged over 90, an official at the regional healthauthority told Reuters. Authorities have not been able to establish the cause of death in most cases. "The deliveries are non-stop. There are going to be more on Monday," the delivery man said as he removed the casket's plastic cover. The facility in Paris' 12th district is one of several care homes across France to be hit by thecoronavirus outbreak. There have been large numbers of deaths too at retirement homes in Italy and Spain. Almost 1 million people reside in care homes in France. In the Paris region alone, the regional health authority saysthat 148 out of the 700 homes in its network have reported coronavirus cases and at least 61 residents have died. The Rothschild Foundation home in Paris was put on red alerton March 6 as the epidemic took hold. Staff were givenstricter entry protocols, told to wear gloves and masks atall times, disinfect everything and urged to isolate suspectedcases. "We knew it was coming. The first two people with symptoms weretested and then isolated, but once it was established that theyhad it, we stopped testing because it's then a cluster. Youcan't allow it to spread," said a health worker aware of the situation. Since then all residents have been confinedto their rooms where they are fed and washed. But whilethe number of new cases has slowed, the deaths continue. Executives at the home did not respond to Reuters phone calls seeking detailed information about what was happening in the home, but in a brief exchange, one executive described the situation at the facility as very tough. France's official coronavirus death toll stands at some 1,100 people, but that does not include deaths outside hospitals. Fatalities in nursing homes have surged recently with dozens of deaths reported across the country. "When you don't have enough staff andequipment and need to care for fragile people then itleads to a high mortality rate. When it enters into a nursinghome, you are going to see 20% of residents die," saidThierry Amouroux, a nurse and representative at the NationalUnion for Professional Nurses. Seniorcare home representatives warned the Health Minister in a letter seen by Reutersthat workers in the homes needed 500,000 masks. At least 100,000 people could die if the situation was not brought under control, they wrote. Jerome Larche, an intensive care doctor in Montpellier, whosecompany also operates care homes, said it was critical to avoid mass contaminations. "Mostof the residents can't be taken to intensive careso if there are contaminations, there will be deaths," Larche said. At the Bergeron-Grenier care home in western France, half of carershave opted to confine themselves within the home to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. "Before, we were always afraid. No matter how careful wewere, we still had this fear of infecting our residents bybringing the virus from outside," administrative assistantPatricia Vandebrouck said.

SOLUTION: 'Delivering coffins non-stop': coronavirus stalks a Paris nursing home.

PROBLEM: Relief groups are giving tetanus shots and handing out free meals and cleaning supplies near his farm in the Langdon-Rock Port area, about 100 miles (161 km) northwest of Kansas City. But what Oswald really needs is money. Hit by the worst flooding in living memory, he and thousands of other farmers along the Missouri River will each require hundreds of thousands of dollars in disaster funds or loans to start over. "The typical response on flood relief is groups like the Red Cross show up with paper towels and rubber gloves and scrub buckets," said Oswald, 69, who does not expect to be able to get to his home or land for weeks. "The biggest thing farmers need is cash, or ways to access funds." Slammed by a trade war and low commodity prices, Midwest family farms have been in the red and in decline for the last five years. The number of U.S farms fell by 100,000 between 2010 and 2017, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. Thousands more will now go under without emergency financial support for flooding, pummeling heartland economies almost entirely dependent on agriculture, farmers and aid groups said. It is a call federal and state agencies, as well as non-governmental and faith-based relief groups are answering. President Donald Trump has approved disaster declarations for Nebraska and Iowa, making federal disaster funding available in flood-hit areas. Missouri Governor Mike Parson declared a state of emergency, paving the way for similar actions in his state. "I know we aim for bringing everything back up to where it was," said Rosalynn Days-Austin, a USDA emergency coordinator helping direct Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) efforts in flood-affected areas. "Sometimes that's not always possible, for a variety of reasons, but the goal is definitely to help them bounce back from their loss." Relief groups like Farm Aid are tending to the immediate needs of farmers, distributing tens of thousands of dollars in "emergency grants" - $500 gifts from cash donations that help families pay for things like groceries. After that, the group and its partners advise farming families on how to access federal disaster funds they hope are coming soon. "What we're hearing, because of the snowpack and rain and the wet ground, is that farmers are going to be dealing with this throughout the spring. So we're in it for the long haul," said Jennifer Fahy, a spokeswoman for the group established by country singer and activist Willie Nelson. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is coordinating a long-term response to get displaced families housed, navigate the red tape of insurance companies and federal agencies and tend to the mental health needs of people who have suffered extreme trauma, said Bishop Brian Maas. "We have national partners and coalitions within the state," said Maas, who is asking people to hold off donating more material goods, for now. "There will be stresses because we've not done anything of this magnitude. "Now we have mountains of cleaning supplies and so forth that can't be used," Maas said, appealing to people to get back in touch in a month to see how they can donate then. "Cash is the most flexible way to respond." Another immediate need is feed for livestock. Relief organization Farm Rescue is collecting donations of hay in the Dakotas and trucking it to farmers whose cattle are starving after their feed stands were submerged in floodwater. "I don't know of anything this widespread that has ever affected so many people in our service area," said Dan Erdmann, a spokesman for the group which helps family farms get through crises ranging from natural disasters to medical emergencies. Farm workers, some of them undocumented and legal migrants, have been hit hard. Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska is looking at housing assistance for displaced people who previously paid around $300 a month rent and now face rents triple that due to a dearth in properties, said Stacy Martin, chief executive of the social services charity. While relief groups tend to urgent needs, farmers like Scott Olson say more federal relief money is needed at a time when low crop prices and high debt levels are limiting farmers' access to credit. He is counting on a farm relief bill in Congress for extra disaster compensation after he successfully lobbied in Washington for similar funds following 2011 flooding. "Flood insurance isn't going to cover this worth a darn. FEMA is worthless," said Olson, who farms 3,000 acres near Tekamah, Nebraska and runs a farm equipment business. "They don't have any money, nobody has any money."

SOLUTION:
After devastating floods, U.S. Midwest farms need more than 'paper towels' to recover.