Stories by Tony Bartelme

Link to Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com.au/Blast-Wave-Post-Courier-Selects-ebook/dp/B00F54AWZY -->   BlastWave An exploding bomb unleashes a nearly invisible wave of pressure that hits as hard as a boxer’s blow. Tens of thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have been exposed to these blasts, leaving some with lasting brain damage. This is a story about invisible injuries, what sports is teaching the military about concussions, and what military bomb hunters are teaching us in return. By Tony Bartelme April 2010, Helmand Province. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jonathan “Bax” Baxley is in an armored troop carrier, strapped in the gunner’s turret. His fingers warm the handle of an M240 machine gun; his eyes scan the Afghan plains for Taliban and IEDs.  From his perch, Baxley can see that the late afternoon sun has lost its glare, casting everything around his convoy in a hundred shades of orange. Craggy mountains are to his right, a village ...

I just read a NY Times story about how anti-Obamacare forces are gathering horror stories to try to shoot down the Affordable Care Act. This is how the act affected me: Because I'm taking a sabbatical to write a book, I had to get my own health insurance. I went to Blue Cross/Blue Shield out of habit and because the company has insured me for 25-plus years. I applied for a pre-Obamacare plan so I could get off my expensive COBRA coverage. A few days later, I received a letter from Blue Cross advising me that they would not cover me now and in the future because of pre-existing conditions. These included a running injury and some trips to a chiropractor (BC identified my condition as a pelvic dysfunction!) Please see story in The Onion below to see how I felt. So I went onto the Healthcare.gov site last night, applied for coverage that's $400 a month less than my current coverage under COBRA. I get a small subsidy because, well, I'm a journalist and we don'...

My new ebook is available on Amazon and Nook for $2.99.  Coming soon to Itunes and in paperback. Second Chance: The Mark Sanford Story takes a deep dive into the story of one of the nation’s most riveting political dramas. Mark Sanford seemed to have it all: A beautiful wife and family, wealth, and promising career that put him at the center of the nation’s debate over spending and the deficit. And then in 2009, he threw it all away. In a public meltdown more vivid than any reality show, he confessed to having an affair with his “soul mate” in Argentina. In 2013, he took a chance and threw himself back into the public arena with a run for Congress– and a chance for redemption. Based on in-depth interviews and new unpublished documents, two-time Pulitzer finalist Tony Bartelme tells a saga of success, deceit and a man’s quest to discover the roots of his failure. While the spotlight has shined brightly on Sanford’s triumphs and failures, Second Chance: The Mark ...

published Dec. 2, 2012 in The Post and Courier STORM OF MONEY:    Insider tells how some insurance companies rig the system   by Tony Bartelme tbartelme@postandcourier.com  Mark Romano gripped the steering wheel and tried to keep his car from swerving into another commuter on the busy Illinois tollway. “God, please don’t let me hurt someone,” he prayed. Dizzy again. These bouts of vertigo were barely noticeable at first, but something else was going on now. At night, he would lie in his bed, stare at the ceiling and watch everything twirl. In the morning, the spells came in waves during his commute to Allstate’s national headquarters in suburban Chicago. Stress? It was December 2007, and Romano was a senior manager at Allstate and its top expert in Colossus, a program that calculates how much a person might be paid for an injury claim. He was in charge of two projects to “tune” and “recalibrate” Colossus, work he knew could affect paymen...

Storm of Money: Long-term care insurance troubles BAD FAITH: Insurance claims a nightmare for elderly by Tony Bartelme Mattie Jewel Poston’s story begins with a gray file box. It's a modest plastic container with a sticker of an American flag on the front. Stored inside are folders with receipts and bills that Mattie’s husband, Herman, kept for years: bills for burial insurance, receipts for the long-term care insurance he took out in case they couldn’t take care of each other. “He carried that box everywhere we went,” Poston said one afternoon, sitting in a wheelchair in Heartland’s nursing home in West Ashley. “Insurance was a must; it was so important.” Like many aging Americans, Mattie and Herman were concerned about the high costs of medical care in the twilight of their lives. Children of the Great Depression, they told their loved ones over and over that they didn’t want to be burdens as they aged. And to make sure, they, along with more than 7 mill...

Storm Of Money : Hurricanes, Insurance, And The Secret Black Boxes That Set Our Rates June 05, 2012 By TONY BARTELME The Post and Courier Some things are certain: As the earth spins, air moves swiftly around the equator, creating the trade winds. It's also certain that storms will form because the sun shines bright where these trades blow, turning sea water into sky-high clouds of steam that inevitably collapse, a process announced by torrents of rain and thunder. And we know for sure from history and physics that a few of these air masses will spin counterclockwise, slowly at first, then faster and with enough momentum to flatten cities, alter destinies, and if hooked into some fantastic electric grid, pack enough energy to light every bulb on earth. Beyond these certainties, hurricanes challenge us with their unknowns. They are so infinitely changeable that it may be mathematically impossible to predict their exact paths more t...