VOL. CLXIX . . . No. 58,561 + © 2020 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2020
C M Y K Nxxx,2020-01-03,A,001,Bs-4C,E2_+
Blake Collie, whose family belonged to a Christian health group, spent several weeks in the hospital.MADELINE GRAY FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
Eight-year-old Blake Collie wasat the swimming pool when he gota frightening headache. His par-ents rushed him to the emergencyroom only to learn he had a brainaneurysm. Blake spent nearly twomonths in the hospital.
His family did not have tradi-tional health insurance. “We couldnot afford it,” said his father, MarkCollie, a freelance photographerin Washington, N.C.
Instead, they pay about $530 amonth through a Christian health
care sharing organization to paymembers’ medical bills. But thegroup capped payments for mem-bers at $250,000, almost certainlyfar less than the final tally ofBlake’s mounting medical bills.
“Just trust God,” the nonprofitgroup, Samaritan Ministries, inPeoria, Ill., said in a statementabout its coverage, and advises its
members that “there is no cover-age, no guarantee of payment.”
More than one million Ameri-cans, struggling to cope with therising cost of health insurance,have joined such groups, at-tracted by prices that are farlower than the premiums for poli-cies that must meet strict require-ments, like guaranteed coveragefor pre-existing conditions, estab-lished by the Affordable Care Act.The groups say they permit peo-ple of a common religious or ethi-cal belief to share medical costs,
When a Health Plan Tells You to ‘Just Trust God’By REED ABELSON It Isn’t Insurance, and It
Makes No Promises
Continued on Page A18
A flood of money rushed into thepresidential race in the last threemonths of 2019, producing an un-usually large number of Demo-cratic candidates with the re-sources to battle deep into the2020 primary calendar, all vyingfor the right to face an incumbentpresident boasting his own enor-mous war chest.
The five strongest Democraticfund-raisers are expected to re-port over $115 million raised injust the final quarter of the year,and they join two self-funding bil-lionaires who are pouring theirfortunes into expansive advertis-ing campaigns.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Ver-mont is pacing the Democraticfield, announcing on Thursdaythat he had raised $34.5 million inthe last three months — the larg-est sum of any Democrat in anyquarter last year. Pete Buttigieg,the former mayor of South Bend,Ind., collected $24.7 million, andformer Vice President Joseph R.Biden Jr. raised $22.7 million, hisbest showing of the year. SenatorElizabeth Warren has not re-vealed her haul but told support-ers in late December that she hadbanked $17 million, while setting a$20 million goal.
In a sign of how widespread themoney windfall was, AndrewYang, the former entrepreneurwho was unknown nationally a
Dollars Pour In. Now DemocratsWill Slug It Out.
By SHANE GOLDMACHERand THOMAS KAPLAN
Continued on Page A14
TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn, thefallen head of the Nissan-Renaultauto alliance, didn’t know muchabout making movies, but heseemed willing to learn.
Sitting in his rented home in awealthy Tokyo neighborhood oneday in December, he walked JohnLesher, a Hollywood producer be-hind the Oscar-winning 2014 Mi-chael Keaton film, “Birdman,”through the plot of his own story,describing what he sees as his un-just imprisonment by Japaneseofficials and his struggle to provehis innocence, said people famil-iar with the discussions.
The theme was redemption.The villain was the Japanese jus-tice system.
The talks were preliminary anddid not get far, the people said.And in any case, Mr. Ghosn waspreparing to deliver a shockingplot twist.
Mr. Ghosn, who was facing atrial later in 2020, fled Japan forLebanon this week, avoidingcriminal charges of financialwrongdoing. All the elements of aHollywood-style thriller arethere: a private plane whisking afugitive into the sky, multiplepassports, rumors of shadowyforces at work and people inpower denying they knew any-thing about it.
Mr. Ghosn’s conversations withMr. Lesher could offer a glimpseinto his thinking in the days before
Ghosn Pitched To Hollywood
Before Escape
By BEN DOOLEY
Continued on Page A9
In September, PresidentTrump, the first lady and two ofhis top health officials gathered inthe Oval Office to announce theywould take what Mr. Trump called“very, very strong” action againstthe fast-growing epidemic ofteenage vaping: a ban on the saleof most flavored e-cigarettes.
Groups representing thousandsof vape shops around the countryquickly mobilized. They created a“We Vape, We Vote” social mediacampaign aimed at Mr. Trump,hired a pollster who had workedfor the president’s election andeven ran a television ad in PalmBeach, Fla., where Mr. Trumpspent the holidays at his Mar-a-Lago club, featuring voters whourged him not to follow throughwith the ban.
On Thursday, the administra-tion announced a policy that re-flected a partial victory for the in-dustry groups, but also seemedaimed at appeasing parents (in-cluding the crucial voting bloc ofsuburban mothers) and publichealth officials worried about nic-otine addiction among teenagers.
Federal officials said theywould forbid the sale of most fla-vored e-cigarette cartridges, butwould exempt menthol and tobac-co flavors, as well as flavored liq-uid nicotine sold in open tank sys-tems at vape shops.
In a call with reporters, the offi-
Balancing ActOn Path to BanVaping Flavors
This article is by Abby Good-nough, Maggie Haberman andSheila Kaplan.
Continued on Page A13
The Turkish Parliament strongly ap-proved sending troops to Libya as thepresident pursues an assertive foreignpolicy to stoke nationalism. PAGE A4
INTERNATIONAL A4-11
Erdogan Expands FootprintA university that’s still fighting a law-suit over its use of race in admissionsfaces an outcry after denying a Latinaprofessor tenure. PAGE A12
NATIONAL A12-18
New Claims of Bias at HarvardManufacturers are cutting costs so theycan invest in new technology like elec-tric and autonomous vehicles. Workersare feeling the impact. PAGE B1
BUSINESS B1-5
Shift in German Auto SectorThere’s more intriguing TV fare thiswinter than ever, Mike Hale says. He’smade a list of 50 new and returningshows for your consideration. PAGE C14
WEEKEND ARTS C1-24
Binge-Worthy Viewing David Brooks PAGE A23
EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23
U(D54G1D)y+z!#!,!?!"
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —The commander of Iran’s power-ful Revolutionary Guards Corpswas killed early Friday in a dronestrike at Baghdad InternationalAirport that was authorized byPresident Trump, American offi-cials said.
The commander, Maj. Gen. Qas-sim Suleimani, and several offi-cials from Iraqi militias backed byTehran were killed when an Amer-ican MQ-9 Reaper drone firedmissiles into a convoy that wasleaving the airport.
The killing of General Sulei-mani was a staggering blow forIran’s military and national pride,and was a serious escalation ofMr. Trump’s growing confronta-tion with Tehran, one that beganwith the death of an Americancontractor in Iraq in late Decem-ber.
Regional analysts said Iran’sleaders were likely to treat Gen-eral Suleimani’s killing as an act ofwar. United States officials werebraced for potential Iranian retal-iatory attacks, possibly includingcyberattacks and terrorism, onAmerican interests and allies.
American officials considerGeneral Suleimani responsible forthe deaths of hundreds of soldiersduring the Iraq war, when he pro-vided Iraqi insurgents with ad-vanced bomb-making equipmentand training. They also say he hasmasterminded destabilizing Ira-nian activities that continuethroughout the Middle East and
are aimed at the United States, Is-rael and Saudi Arabia.
“General Suleimani was ac-tively developing plans to attackAmerican diplomats and servicemembers in Iraq and throughoutthe region,” the Pentagon said in astatement. “General Suleimaniand his Quds Force were responsi-ble for the deaths of hundreds ofAmerican and coalition service
members and the wounding ofthousands more.”
It did not elaborate on the spe-cific intelligence that led them tocarry out General Suleimani’skilling. The highly classified mis-sion was set in motion after the
U.S. STRIKE IN IRAQKILLS COMMANDEROF IRANIAN FORCES
Trump Orders Pre-emptive Air Attack —Staggering Blow Dealt to Tehran
This article is by Michael Crowley,Falih Hassan and Eric Schmitt.
Continued on Page A10
MILITARY STRATEGIST Maj. Gen.Qassim Suleimani had a celeb-rity-like status with Iran’s hard-line conservatives. Page A10.
EBRAHIM NOROOZI/ASSOCIATED PRESS
INVERLOCH, Australia —They fled from looming firestormsthat threatened to cut off their es-cape, only to join a slog alongsidethe masses of others who crowdedthe roads. Thousands morewaited for rescue by sea.
Across the scorched southeast,
frightened Australians — taking afew cherished things, abandoningtheir homes and vacation rentals,and braving smoke that discol-ored the skies — struggled Thurs-day to evacuate as wildfiresturned the countryside into char-coal wasteland.
And from government officialscame a disheartening warning:This weekend will be one of theworst periods yet in Australia’s
catastrophic fire season.“It’s going to be a blast furnace,”
Andrew Constance, the transportminister of New South Wales, toldThe Sydney Morning Herald.
The blazes have strained thecountry’s firefighting resources,and the fire season, though stillyoung, already ranks as amongthe worst in Australia’s recordedhistory.
The state of New South Wales
declared an emergency in itssoutheastern region on Thursday,calling on residents and vacation-ers to evacuate. Mr. Constancesaid the relocation was the largestin the region’s history.
To the south, the state of Vic-toria declared a disaster on Thurs-day, allowing it to authorize theevacuation of areas along its east-ern coast.
Ablaze, Southeast Australia Faces Even Worse: ‘A Blast Furnace’This article is by Livia Albeck-
Ripka, Jamie Tarabay and RichardPérez-Peña.
Lake Conjola in New South Wales on Thursday. The state declared an emergency in its southeastern region, telling people to evacuate.ROBERT OERLEMANS, VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Continued on Page A8
Late Edition
F O R Y O U R C O N S I D E R A T I O N
Today, overcast, rain and drizzle,mild, high 50. Tonight, a little rain,low 45. Tomorrow, remaining cloudyand mild, periodic rain, high 50.Weather map appears on Page A24.
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