Even though Congress moved quickly to pass a financial relief package, the money in that package is not getting where it needs to be fast enough. The CARES Act became law on March 27, and very little of its relief has reached those who need it. Each day that passes translates to more hungry families, more homes lost, more prescriptions for essential medicines not filled, and more suffering for those who are struggling. As lawmakers begin discussing the CARES Act, Part 2, they need a much quicker way to distribute funds. The payroll processing system should be considered as a way to get money to people faster.
I've spent a fair amount of time in hospitals, both for my own care and with those I love, as I suspect many of you have as well. I know that nurses are the ones you count on.
They explain everything that the doctor didn’t say. They help you to the bathroom when you can’t make it on your own. They know what medicines you need and help you take them. They change your bandages, fix your i.v., and reassure you that the beeping monitor is normal.
February 4th is World Cancer Day.
Of course I have a personal connection. Of course I do. I would have to be living under a rock.
Carrie was always excited to find a diner that served real roast turkey on its turkey sandwiches—none of the deli stuff. She was whip-smart and no-nonsense, with a warm, deep laugh. She fought her cancer for almost a decade before she succumbed, still in her thirties.
At this time last year, I began planning a run for the U.S. Congress, because our government is broken, and our Congressional representatives don’t effectively represent a large portion of the residents in this district. I wanted to move our discussions away from the politics of anger and fear and toward the politics of community and hope. We officially launched our campaign on September 17th, and I’ve spent the last 4-1/2 months balancing a start-up campaign, my job as a lawyer (which I get to step back from on January 1st), and raising our two children (one of whom was snuggled against my arm as I typed this).
Open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on www.healthcare.gov continues until December 15, but some consumers are buying short-term policies on other sites that don’t provide the coverage they need. And they may not know it. The Trump administration and the Indiana legislature recently made it easier for insurers to sell these policies. Private insurance brokers increase their profits by steering consumers to low-coverage insurance.
When I met my friend Joseph in June 2000 at a writing program in Vermont, he had already been HIV+ for decades, Nearly everyone who was infected when he was, early in the days of the AIDS epidemic, had died. He would go out to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda every year so they could draw his blood as they searched for a cure.
The statistics on maternal and infant mortality are staggering, and devastating. We need to do better. When we talk about ensuring that everyone has access to affordable healthcare, we include this: making sure that there are doctors, nurses and hospitals (and doulas!) where they need to be, and providing bias training so they deliver the same quality of care to all their patients. We should include government support for healthcare facilities where needed and pay for healthcare providers to go to school if they commit to serving underserved areas.
Indiana has one of the worst rates for childbirth-related death - read more here.
