A Mile Wide, An Inch Deep

We drafted this for our interns based on a presentation I've been giving for years. Posting it here for anyone who might find it helpful while Congress debates the ACA's future. Health Insurance 101 Half of Americans get their health insurance through their employer The other half are insured through the government, through the individual market, or have no coverage at all You may have heard of terms like “socialized medicine” (Great Britain), “single payer” (Canada), and private health insurance. In the US, we have all three: Socialized health care: the government operates health care facilities and employs health care professionals. Examples include hospitals, clinics, and doctors that are owned, operated, or employed by the Indian Health Service, the Defense Department, and Veterans Affairs Single payer: health care services are provided by private businesses but paid for by the government. Examples include Medicare (seniors), Medicaid (low-income pati...

This week we’re on red alert in response to reports that Republican leadership is gearing up for a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gut Medicaid the week of September 25 , with a sham hearing possible before then. Now is the time to call, write, and rally to urge the Senate to reject this new threat and support a bipartisan package instead. The bill, known as Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson for its sponsors Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dean Heller (R-NV), and Ron Johnson (R-WI), is being sold as a “compromise” and “non-partisan” solution—even though no Democrats support it. But not only is Graham-Cassidy not a compromise, it is the most radical proposal yet. And like the proposals that preceded it, the bill goes far beyond Republicans’ campaign pledge to repeal the ACA; it also attacks long-standing traditional Medicaid. Republicans only have two weeks to ram through repeal with just 50 senators and Vice President Mike Pence because on Sept...

Taking two full trash bags of supplies to the school on orientation day. The bags represented just part of each child's list. Every year our school supply list is 80% standard business supplies like copy paper, dry erase markers, paper towels, hand sanitizer, and one year, even toilet paper! There's no need to label most of the items we send because they won't belong to any individual child, but rather to the class or grade as a whole. These are the kinds of general operating supplies most employers are expected to simply provide. I've worked in for-profit, non-profit, public, and private sectors and I've never been asked to bring in my own copy paper, dry erase markers, or other basic business supplies. Maryland is the wealthiest state in the union (as measured by median household income, 3rd wealthiest by per capita income) so the only conclusion I can draw from these lists is that despite lofty rhetoric from politicians about children being the future...