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Why it’s so hard to find a primary-care doctor these days · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, August 22nd. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show, disturbing allegations of mass killings by Saudi border guards, why fewer Americans have a primary care doctor, and to know whether your cheese is the real deal, check if it's got a microchip in it.
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  But first, let’s take a brief look at some big stories in the news
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  Former President Donald Trump says he'll turn himself in on Thursday in Atlanta to face charges of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia. His bond was set at $200,000. Trump called the Georgia indictment politically motivated. This will be the fourth time he's had to present himself to face criminal charges this year. The bond consent order negotiated between the District Attorney and Trump's lawyers prohibits him from using social media to intimidate co-defendants and witnesses.
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  In Maui, Hawaii, we are starting to get some clarity around numbers. Around 850 people remain unaccounted for after wildfires destroyed the town of Lahaina. The initial missing person list was closer to 2,000. The FBI is working with Maui police to find matches between DNA submitted by family members and bodies that have been recovered. As of Monday, 35 of the 115 people known to have died have been identified. President Biden discussed the disaster response during his visit to Maui on 5 Monday.
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  [START TWITTER ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  President Joe Biden: But I also want all of you to know the country grieves with you, stands with you, and will do everything possible to help you recover, rebuild, and respect culture and traditions when the rebuilding takes place.
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  [END TWITTER ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  In other climate news, officials in California say there were no reported fatalities there, and damage was relatively minimal from Tropical Storm Hilary. Though it did bring record-breaking rain, flash floods, and power outages to Southern California. Multiple rock and mudslides have already been reported. At least one death has been reported in Mexico. As the storm moved north, forecasters warned that parts of Oregon and Idaho may also see serious flooding.
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  [START "NBC SPORTS" ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  [CROWD CHEERING]
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  Announcer: Women's 100 world final. the Jamaicans get out well. It's Shericka Jackson, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Ta Lou! Here comes Sha'Carri Richardson. Sha'Carri has done it!
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  [END "NBC SPORTS" ARCHIVAL CLIP]
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  Richardson was expected to be one of the high-profile Americans at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but she was disqualified from racing when she tested positive for marijuana. Now, one year ahead of the Paris Olympics, she is the woman to beat.
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  A warning that this next story involves sexual violence. Some listeners may want to skip ahead a few minutes.
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  A new report from Human Rights Watch accuses Saudi Arabian border guards of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants. They were trying to cross into Saudi Arabia from Yemen to escape poverty and violence in their own country. The Saudi government has denied the allegations. This is an area that's largely shut off to foreign journalists and aid workers, so the report offers rare insight into what's happening there.
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  The accusations are serious and came after Human Rights Watch did months of extensive research, speaking to dozens of Ethiopians who attempted to cross the border and their relatives. The group also analyzed migrants' photos and videos, and satellite images of the area.
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  The "Guardian" has key details from the report, and as I said, they are very graphic. Witnesses told researchers about mass killings, torture, and sexual abuse. They say Saudi guards fired on people who attempted to cross, even shooting at people who tried to go back into Yemen. Migrants say guards beat them with rocks and metal bars. Some say that after they were captured, guards told them to name a body part, and then shot them in it. A teenage boy says guards forced him and others to rape other migrants.
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  A 14-year-old girl told Human Rights Watch that she saw 30 people murdered in front of her. She says they were "killed in a way (she had) never imagined."
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  The report is just the latest to raise human-rights concerns about Saudi Arabia. It's been heavily criticized for its deadly intervention in Yemen's civil war. And Human Rights Watch has documented killings of migrants at the Yemen-Saudi border for a decade. But the watchdog group says, this seems to be a major new escalation, in both the number of killings and their brutality.
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  Now back to the U.S., where the relationship between Americans and their family doctors is changing. For many people, there's no relationship at all these days. Recent data shows nearly half of adults under 30 don't have a primary-care doctor. Instead, many people go to urgent care centers or emergency rooms. "Vox" senior health correspondent Dylan Scott told us patients might be losing something important.
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  Dylan Scott: There's research that suggests when you have a long-term relationship with an individual doctor, it does pay off in terms of health benefits. But we haven't really built a healthcare system that values those long-term relationships that values primary care in a general way. And so, we're seeing the field start to evolve away from what it used to be.
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  Part of that shift is because the business model has changed. Many doctors used to own their own clinics. But in recent years, those were rolled up into hospitals. Independent doctors found it hard to compete. Also, aspiring doctors are less likely to go into primary care these days. They can make more money in specialized fields. In the hospital system, doctors are incentivized to see as many patients as possible in a day.
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  Scott: And because it's become so hard to establish those long-term relationships and just find a personal doctor, people are opting for these other options instead. And you've got these big companies stepping in and saying like, hey, we can't promise that you're gonna have the same doctor for the next 20 years, who's gonna know everything about you every time you come in. But like, we can meet your basic needs.
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  Some primary-care doctors are trying to foster stronger relationships with patients through telemedicine. There are also new business models, like direct primary care and concierge clinics. But the concept of a doctor who makes house calls and treats a whole family for decades, that's something many people only know from old movies. And Scott says the shortage of primary care providers is only getting worse as more family physicians retire.
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  Would you eat cheese with a microchip embedded in it? "The Wall Street Journal" looks at how the creators of one of the world's most famous cheeses, Parmigiano-Reggiano in Italy, are putting tiny chips into their giant wheels of cheese. It's meant to protect the centuries-old cheesemaking tradition, with a scannable microchip that can tell you whether a wheel is authentic or not.
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  The chip is roughly the size of a grain of sand and, technically, edible. Now, if this sounds a little gross for something that you might grate over your fettuccine, the chip goes into the rind, which most people don't eat. As the Journal explains, guaranteeing food authenticity is big business in the European Union. Producers charge a premium for real Greek feta and French Champagne. The market for these products is around $87 billion, according to the EU. A 90-pound wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano can cost over a grand. So, you can imagine why knock-off cheesemakers might try to pass off their stuff as the real deal.
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  The "Journal" gets into some other creative ways producers are trying to protect their goods. QR codes on slices of prosciutto; invisible ink, or even holograms on bottles.
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  You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next from "Mother Jones." It looks at what happened when Connecticut became the first state to let incarcerated people make free phone calls. The move is credited with saving families millions of dollars a year. If more states follow suit, it could be a major shift in prison policy.
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  That's cued up to play for you next, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow
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