Axios

Sweeping changes in Affordable Care Act and Medicaid markets are hitting the balance sheets of some of America's largest health care companies, based on quarterly earnings issued this week.

Why it matters: Insurers and health systems already are feeling the effects of significant enrollment drops and changes in who's paying for care.

The wildfire smoke drifting into the eyes, throats and lungs of millions of Americans and Canadians this week is a stark reminder that the planet is changing in unsettling ways.

• The smoke, from wildfires raging in northern Minnesota and Canada, is causing dangerously bad air across the Midwest and Northeast — and could soon waft elsewhere.
• Air quality alerts have been issued in New York, Chicago, Toronto and more, with officials urging folks to stay inside.

In the 1980s, when my father was diagnosed with cancer, he did something that surprised everyone who knew him: He joined a support group.

• This was out of character. He certainly was not, as I remember him, a man who would naturally seek comfort in a room full of strangers.
• But the people in that room must have offered what the rest of us could not.

The big picture: According to the Mayo Clinic, the benefits of support groups can include feeling less lonely, less judged and less distressed, and gaining a sense of empowerment, control or hope.