WOODLAND HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 6, 2026--
Anthem Blue Cross and GET Creative, USA TODAY Network’s in-house branded content studio, announced the launch of a new five-part video series designed to help Americans better understand their health plan benefits, make informed care decisions and manage costs with greater confidence.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260706564680/en/
Debuting on USA TODAY’s website, the series combines expert-backed insights and relatable, real-life scenarios to make health care more personal, easier to navigate and less costly.
The series, hosted by Emmy and Critics' Choice Award-winning actress Katherine LaNasa, breaks down common but often confusing aspects of care, from understanding basic health insurance terms to choosing where to go for medical care. Viewers will also gain practical strategies to anticipate and manage health care expenses, including how key concepts like deductibles vs premiums and out-of-pocket maximums influence what they pay, and how to use available digital tools and support before receiving care.
“This series is about helping people feel more confident and in control when it comes to their health care,” said Morgan Kendrick, President, Commercial and Specialty Health Benefits, Anthem. “When people understand their coverage and know where to go for support, they’re better equipped to access the care they need when they need it, while also managing costs.”
The series is intended for anyone seeking to better understand health insurance, estimate medical costs, compare care options and make more informed health care decisions before receiving treatment.
LaNasa’s participation is informed by her own personal experience navigating care and coverage decisions.
“When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, everything suddenly became very real — the decisions, the costs and the need to understand my options,” LaNasa said. “As an Anthem member myself, having support and clarity along the way made a meaningful difference for me and my family. That experience is why I wanted to be part of this series, to help others feel more informed, prepared and confident navigating their own health care.”
The five videos cover topics including:
Throughout the series, viewers are encouraged to use digital tools like the Sydney Health app and Anthem’s member support resources to better understand coverage, estimate costs and find in-network care, helping reduce uncertainty and avoid surprise medical bills.
The video series is available on the USA TODAY website.
About Anthem Blue Cross
Anthem Blue Cross is the trade name of Blue Cross of California. ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Elevance Health, Inc. Anthem Blue Cross and Anthem Blue Cross Life and Health Insurance Company are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Association. To learn more, visit www.anthem.com/ca. Follow us on LinkedIn, X at or Facebook.
Anthem Blue Cross offers commercial plans in California. Independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
About GET Creative
GET Creative is the USA TODAY Network’s in-house branded content studio, creating custom storytelling solutions that help brands connect with engaged audiences at scale. From national advertisers to local businesses, GET Creative develops audience-first content across articles, video, social, and interactive formats—designed to inform, inspire, and drive measurable results. Powered by the trust and reach of the USA TODAY Network, GET Creative delivers data-driven campaigns that blend the integrity of journalism with the impact of modern marketing, helping partners tell authentic stories that resonate nationwide. Learn more at https://getcreative.usatoday.com/.
About USA TODAY
Since its introduction in 1982, USA TODAY has been a cornerstone of the national media landscape under its recognizable and respected brand. It also serves as the foundation for our newsroom network which allows for content sharing capabilities across our local and national markets. Through USA TODAY, we deliver high quality, trusted content with a commitment to balanced, unbiased journalism, where and when consumers want to engage. Across our digital platforms we reach an audience of approximately 87 million unique visitors each month (based on December 2025 Comscore Media Metrix ® ).
Katherine LaNasa
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia unleashed waves of missiles and drones at Ukraine early Monday, killing at least 19 people in attacks that exposed widening gaps in country’s air defenses more than four years into Moscow's full-scale invasion, authorities said.
All of the ballistic missiles launched by Russia struck their targets, underscoring Kyiv’s need for more U.S.-made Patriot interceptor missiles — a point Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will likely reiterate at a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, this week.
Thirteen people were killed in the capital, Kyiv, which was Russia's main target, and 56 were injured, according to administrative head Tymur Tkachenko. Another six people were killed in the wider Kyiv region and 21 were inured, according to Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the regional administration, and other emergency officials.
Emergency workers searched for survivors in the rubble of residential high-rises in two locations that suffered direct hits.
Moscow has stepped up strikes on Kyiv in retaliation for Ukraine’s recent long-range strikes, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Those attacks have caused severe fuel shortages and put pressure on President Vladimir Putin.
On Thursday, a Russian strike killed 31 people in Kyiv, the deadliest attack in the capital this year.
Ukraine’s advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months, analysts and Western officials say, striking supply routes behind the front line, stripping the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield and slowing its advance.
But Russia is now exploiting a different kind of momentum: vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s air defenses, which remain heavily reliant on the Patriot missile systems to intercept ballistic missiles it can rarely shoot down. The war in the Middle East has strained the global supply of Patriot interceptors, already produced in limited numbers — a shortage now felt keenly in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.
“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television. “Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”
Ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey, Zelenskyy said on X that Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against ballistic missiles — a shortfall he blamed on insufficient supplies of interceptors. He urged U.S. and European partners at the summit to bolster Ukraine’s air defense and protect civilians.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said in a statement following the attack.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale not seen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors. “Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period,” he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said the attack targeted weapons factories in Kyiv, including sites it said produce drones, armored vehicles and missiles, as well as facilities repairing air defense systems and fuel and energy infrastructure in the capital and surrounding region. The claims could not be independently verified.
Russia’s attacks have repeatedly hit civilian areas. More than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, according to the United Nations.
“These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.
A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he said. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and people were believed to be buried in the rubble.
In Kyiv's suburb of Vyshneve, about 600 residents were evacuated due to the risk of unexploded munitions, Ukraine's Emergency Service said.
Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, said she began screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast that blew out the windows in her apartment building.
The lights went out, a burning smell filled the air and the stairwell was thick with smoke, she said.
“When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there,” Piatetska said. “When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire.”
Halina Ivanivna, 61, said she was awakened by the first strike about 2 a.m. Moments later, her apartment building began collapsing around her.
“Everything was falling down,” she said. Water poured through the building as smoke filled the air while emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents.
About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses downed 519 Ukrainian drones overnight.
An energy provider in Russian-held Crimea reported a blackout across the peninsula. The Moscow-appointed head of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said Ukrainian attacks cut power early Monday that was restored with backup equipment.
Ukraine’s military confirmed it struck several Russian energy and military facilities used to supply Russia’s armed forces with fuel and support its war efforts.
In the Russian city of Yaroslavl, two people were wounded in an attack in which over 70 Ukrainian drones were downed, according to regional Gov. Mikhail Yavrayev. He didn’t say if any facilities were damaged, but the Astra online news outlet said they caused a fire at an oil refinery.
Ukrainian drone attack on the Leningrad region north of Moscow damaged unspecified infrastructure at the Luga training ground, as well as in the areas of Baltic Sea ports of Ust-Luga and Vysotsk, Gov. Alexander Drozdenko said.
Several Ukrainian drones attacked a northern industrial hub in the city of Omsk, regional Gov. Vitaly Khotsenko said, but provided no other details.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Frightened by explosions, a cat cuddles up to its owner during search and rescue works at the damaged residential building following Russia's missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
The damaged apartment interior in the ruined apartment building following Russia's missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A woman carries her cat out of a damaged multistory apartment building following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Local residents walk amid debris following a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Local residents look out of the balcony at a building damaged by Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Emergency workers carry an injured person following Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
Emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following Russian missile attacks in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
Rescuers work the scene of a building damaged by Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Rescuers work the scene of a building damaged by Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
The damaged apartment interior in the ruined building following Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Rescuers work the scene of a building damaged by Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Rescuers work the scene of a building damaged by Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
