Lee Daniels: The Making Of ‘Precious’

Filmmaker Lee Daniels believes “the truth will set you free.” He brings the painful truth of physical, mental and sexual abuse along with incest and illiteracy to the screen in the powerful film Precious. It stars newcomer Gabourney Sidibe in the title role and Mo’Nique as her abusive mother. The movie is based on the novel Push by Sapphire. When Daniels finished reading it, he knew he had to turn it into a movie.

Health Care Series: Without Insurance, Diabetes Patient ‘In Limbo’

Minnie Ray was ready to fight diabetes. But the 59-year-old Boise, Idaho, schoolteacher discovered that diabetes wasn’t her biggest foe—it was a health care system that punished her for having the disease.  With her diabetes classified as a “pre-existing condition,” premiums for private- sector health insurance were too costly. Ray’s situation is not unique. Across the country, people without employee-subsidized health care are being denied affordable health insurance because of pre-existing conditions, some as commonplace as acne and asthma, or even attention-deficit disorder. It’s a growing problem as unemployment rolls swell in the recession, and the dilemma is at the heart of the national heath care reform debate.