Fed Interest Rates, Mental Health Care, World Cup Preview

And that usually brings prices down. But, of course, when companies make less money, they also don't expand and they often lay people off. All this can cause a recession. So the Fed's always trying to strike this balance. Economists call it a soft landing, slowing the economy down just enough, but not too much.

And for the last year, the Fed has taken really aggressive action. Interest rates are higher than they've been in more than 20 years. So a lot of people said the pause was to try to see how things are settling and hopefully help us strike this balance, this soft landing.

And right now in the U.S., everything is moving in the right direction. And Rajan says the Fed probably does not want to risk taking its foot off the brakes too soon. So our hot pause summer is expected to come to an end.

Give me a break.

NPR's Yuki Noguchi was listening to the announcement yesterday and is on the line. Good morning.

And, you know, historically, insurance didn't cover care like therapy the same way it did physical care like surgery.

And a landmark 2008 law tried to change that, but insurers found ways around it.

For example, it might appear as though an insurer has a network of mental health professionals, but in fact, many of them might not be taking new patients or are no longer practicing or are too far away.

Or sometimes insurers would require paperwork to authorize treatment repeatedly in order to keep getting treatment.

So some families told me the reauthorization could be almost daily.

What are people doing when instead they find these barriers?

And if you don't have insurance, it's a huge cost, right?

Paying out of pocket for something like inpatient treatment can easily cost $100,000 or more.

So even families with resources often end up tapping every source of cash and credit they can.

Take Michigan woman Rachel, who last year described the situation paying for her son's treatment.

How are we going to send our kids to school?

How are we going to, like, what are we going to do when it's time for it?

Like, how are we going to recover from this?

I don't know.

Those thoughts in your mind, like there's no space for that when you are just trying to keep your child alive.

And some forego care and let conditions worsen into a bigger crisis or end up in the ER.

So what does the White House propose to do about that?

to track how these policies affect patients.

So it really hasn't been possible to hold insurers accountable.

And the White House also wants better reimbursement for the doctors and therapists who provide this care.

And the hope there is that maybe that will draw more people into the profession.

Right at a time when mental health crises are really on the rise, you know, there aren't enough professionals to take care of them.

And that's something that's going to take a lot of time to solve.

And even the president acknowledged that, you know, while with these policies, he wants to address insurance problems.

There are still lots of problems with access to care generally.

Thanks so much.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988.

Three numbers, 988, for the National Crisis Lifeline.

OK, let's go next to the Women's World Cup, where we expect a showdown.

Tonight, they face the team they played in the finals of the 2019 World Cup, the Netherlands.

So let's go to New Zealand, where we found Henry Bushnell, senior soccer reporter for Yahoo Sports.

Welcome.

The World Cup is going on?

And other people were shouting, what's the matter with you?

This is the biggest thing in the world.

So if you could just bring us up to date here on what is a huge thing for much of the world,

how do you assess these two teams playing today, the U.S. and Netherlands?

but that was almost a warm-up in a way.

Even the Vietnamese coach and players didn't think they really had a shot to win.

The Dutch are exactly the opposite.

They're maybe not the best opponent that the U.S. will face here, and the U.S. is still the favorite to win a third consecutive title.

But there's kind of this growing theme that we hear from other big soccer countries now.

They don't fear the U.S. anymore.

There used to be this aura around the U.S. women's national team.

It seems to be kind of fading a bit because they haven't been all that dominant over the past four years,

and especially over the past two years.

So I think that aura is almost on the line at this World Cup, and especially tomorrow,

which is really the first true test for the U.S. here.

It is tonight here in the United States.

Let's talk about one of the stars who would bring the U.S. forward if the U.S. gets forward at all,

Sophia Smith.

Didn't she have an amazing game against Vietnam?

I think we all expected it, but she still had to go out on the field and do it.

And yes, she opened with a bang, two goals and one assist, contributed to all three of the U.S. goals.

And that could be a bit of a theme going forward.

This U.S. team can struggle to create chances at times, but when you have one or two brilliant players,

you can score goals, and Sophia Smith is absolutely one of those players.

First, the individual.

What do you think makes Sophia Smith such a star?

She's got pace.

She's got skill on the ball and off the ball.

And for a youngster, she's playing at her first World Cup,

so she understands the game really well.

She can play up front as the main striker in the middle of a front three,

or she can play on the wing, which is where she usually plays for the U.S.

She can score with both feet.

She can run with the ball at her feet.

So she's really a complete attacker and is going to be one of the faces of U.S. women's soccer

for at least a decade to come, I think.

Is there something about the team dynamics in merging that star and other stars

into a broader team that is working in a difficult way?

One is that they had a lot of injuries, and other teams have had injuries too,

and it's not an excuse.

But the U.S. has been hit particularly hard, I think.

They also have a coach, Vako Andonofsky, who a lot of people are questioning

and who hasn't quite gotten the best out of this team.

And then the other aspect of this is that other teams are catching up.

The Dutch coach actually said it here a few hours ago.

Everybody in Europe thinks that they're closing the gap on the U.S.

because they're investing in women's soccer more and more.

And now they want an answer, how close are we?

And I think we'll start getting that answer tomorrow.

Thanks so much.

And that's Up First for this Wednesday, July 26th.

I'm Steve Inskeep.

Up First is produced by Nina Kravinsky and Shelby Hawkins.

Our editors are Reena Advani and Olivia Hampton.

And our technical director is Zach Coleman with engineering support from Stacey Abbott.

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