So You Want to End Abortion…

There are many people in this country and around the world who believe that abortion is both illegal and immoral. If this is what you believe, this is what has to be done to stop it entirely.

• Teach our boys and men to respect women.
• Break down all of the boundaries that still prevent females from achieving everything they want to achieve. An educated woman with a solid career is more likely to have a child when she is financially and emotionally ready to be a mother.
• Upon reaching puberty, all boys are required by law to have a vasectomy. When they have proven that they can properly take care of their offspring, the vasectomy is reversed.
• If an unplanned pregnancy occurs (whether via wanted or unwanted sex) and the man refuses to take responsibility, use law enforcement to ensure that both the mother and child are taken care of until the child turns eighteen. If he still refuses, cut his junk off.
• Ensure that every child is given age-appropriate sex education.
• Make birth control easily accessible without charging an arm and a leg.
• Ensure that every pregnant woman has easy access to affordable and reliable medical care until she gives birth. After the baby is born, make sure that the parents can do the same for pediatric care.
• If the mother and/or parents are in a financial/employment bind, the government is responsible for providing additional support. This includes housing, food, etc.
• Reduce the cost of daycare to be proportional to the salaries of the adults in the home.
• From the moment they are born, each child is guaranteed a well-balanced education from pre-school all the way up to college. If they choose to go for an advanced degree, that is on them.
• If the youngster is unable to be raised within the bosom of their family and has to be put into social services, remove the identity labels that prevent some from fostering and/or adopting the minor.
• Add mental health screenings as part of the regular medical checkup. If there is supplemental help is needed, it is marked as preventative by the health insurance companies and charged as such.
• If abortion is determined as necessary by a medical health professional, give the family room to consider their options and do not judge them if the decision is made to end the pregnancy.

P.S. Did you hear that a good amount of Republicans in the Senate voted no on a bill that would help with the baby formula shortage? So much for pro-life.

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Thoughts On the First Night of the Second Round of Democratic Debates

Last night, the first night of the second round of the Democratic nominees aired on CNN. Over the course of three hours, the nominees debated, argued and did their best to prove why they should go against you know who next fall.

I have a few thoughts about last night.

• As much as I would like to say that Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont) will be our first Jewish-American President, I don’t think he will be the nominee. From my perspective, his plan can best be summed up as a Monet. He didn’t do anything for me during the 2016 Presidential Election and does not do anything for me now. But, he did have the best one-liners.

• Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said nothing new or different than she has said before. This round of debates are do or die for the candidates. While the Senator had many good talking points, nothing she said inspired me.
• Marianne Williamson surprised me. I didn’t think much of her during the previous debate. But last night, she sounded like a candidate who might have a shot winning the nomination. However, her limited political experience bothers me. Not that there is anything wrong with a political newbie, but given the lack of previous political experience of you know who, I would feel more comfortable with a candidate who has at least some experience in government.

• Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) stood out. I read her as a centrist Democrat who is able to walk the fine line of holding true to the ideals of the party while appealing to all Americans. I honestly believe that the ideal Democratic candidate to go against you know who is a centrist Democrat whose appeal goes well beyond the party’s base.
• I don’t agree that immigrants whose status is labelled illegal should just be handed health insurance. Let them pay in, either out of their own pockets or via taxes and enroll in one of the government insurances. I’ve spoken on past posts about my immigrant forebears. They came to this country for the same reasons more than a century ago for the same reason that immigrants are coming today. My forebears did not ask for a handout. They only asked for an opportunity, which what they were given. We should be giving these immigrants the same opportunities that past generations of immigrants were given.

Those are my opinions. Readers, what do you think? What moment or quote stood out to you from last night?

P.S. Did anyone else notice that everyone on stage last night was Caucasian? All of the nominees of color are debating tonight.

Thoughts On the First Half of the Democratic Debate

The 2020 Presidential Election will be here before we know it.

Last night, the first half of the twenty Democratic Presidential candidates debated as to whom would best represent the party and go up against you know who next fall.

While there were many moments to go over, I want to talk about two moments that stood out to me.

Julian Castro made his mark. I knew of him by name, but I knew nothing of his positions and his potential policies. After last night, I hope that he will be given the opportunity to prove his mettle, especially after he announced his public support of the Equal Rights Amendment. This amendment has been bouncing around the halls of Congress for for nearly fifty years. It’s time to make it the law of the land and ensure that American women are once and for all viewed by the law as equal to American men.

The other moment that stood out for me was the question about socialized medicine. When the candidates were asked who among them supports socialized medicine, only Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio raised their hand. I agree with the idea of socialized medicine (known in the US as universal health care), but I disagree that private insurance should be gotten rid of completely. I think that every citizen should have access to some form of socialized medicine, but I also think there should be the option of obtaining private health insurance via an employer.

Readers, what do you think? Do you have any favorite moments or candidates from last night’s debate.

If Home Depot Helped This Child, Why Can’t the Insurance Company Do the Same?

America is one of the wealthiest countries on earth. If the powers that be wanted to, they could help every American, regardless of employment (or lack there of) and ability to pay, to have gain access to reasonable health insurance. But the powers that be have made a choice that one’s access to reasonable health insurance is limited.

Logan Moore is an adorable two year old boy from Georgia. He suffers from Hypotonia, a disease that hinders his ability to walk properly. His parents questioned if their health insurance company would not only cover the cost of a walker, but also provide it in a reasonable amount of time. Out of sheer desperation, the family took a trip to Home Depot, looking to purchase materials to make a walker until such time that the insurance company would hopefully provide the walker.

Out of the goodness of their hearts, the staff not only built the walker for Logan, but they did so for free.

To my mind, this story illustrates one of the weaknesses of this country. Healthcare and access to affordable health insurance is a human right. There are many countries that provide some form of universal healthcare for their citizens. And yet, in the United States, one’s ability to see a doctor without breaking the bank depends on one’s employment and financial status.

The question I have to ask is, if Home Depot helped this child, why can’t the insurance company do the same?

This Time, The Potential Removal of the ACA is Personal

Earlier this week, you know who took another swipe at the ACA.

If he had attempted the same thing six months ago (not that its first time he’s tried to remove the ACA), I think my response would be of a general outrage. This time, the potential removal of the ACA is personal.

I wrote a while back about an unexpected curve ball that was thrown my way.

That curve-ball is a change to my career that I did not see coming. As of the end of next month, I will be out of work. My employer is generous to include health insurance in the severance package, but that health insurance is temporary.

The fact is that health insurance is a necessity. Not just to ensure that I have continued access to the mental health professionals who help me to live with my depression, but to provide access to my regular doctor.

Health insurance is a human right, not a privilege. No one should be denied access to a doctor because they cannot afford the appointment or have to go into debt to remain healthy.

But then again, some politicians are so blind that they prefer to save their own skins instead of supporting the voters who hired those politicians to represent them.

 

We Must Not Allow CHIP To Disappear

When I was growing up, I was lucky that both of my parents had full-time jobs that provided health insurance. If I needed to go to the doctor, there was never any question that I could see one.

Many children in America today are not so lucky. The CHIP program provides health insurance for millions of children whose parents make too much money to quality for traditional government healthcare, but either cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket for health insurance or cannot get insurance through their employers.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the program is on its last legs.

What makes me angry is that there are people in Washington D.C. who are willing to throw the health and the lives away of millions of American children in the name of something that is unnecessary and a waste of tax dollars (i.e. the border wall with Mexico). These kids are our future. By letting CHIP go by the wayside, we are sacrificing these health and future of these children. One of these kids could one day cure cancer, fly to Jupiter, maybe even become President Of The United States.

But we will never know what they will be capable of accomplishing as adults if we do not make their health a priority when they are children.

Why The Hobby Lobby Supreme Court Ruling Is Wrong

During the middle of the classic 1980’s tv series, The Cosby show, an episode premiered in which the adult male characters of the show were pregnant.

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. The ruling states any for profit company who provides their employees health coverage through the Affordable Care Act can claim religious exemption and not include FDA approved contraception under the provided health insurance.

I’ve come to the conclusion that until the day men get pregnant and have to deal with everything that comes with pregnancy, women will be fighting for the right to accessible and reasonably priced birth control. While the plot of The Cosby Show played for laughs, art does not imitate life.

Having a child is a blessing, but let’s face it, it’s not easy, nor it is cheap.

According to CNN last year, a middle class couple who had a child in 2013 will spend $241,080 from the time the child is born up to age 18. That does not include the sky rocketing cost of college and the exorbitant student loan debt that college graduates have to pay off.

Not every woman uses birth control to prevent pregnancies. Some use it to treat medical conditions.  Without the contraceptives covered until the employee health plan, that’s money  that could be going to something else and maybe time away from the office because they are too sick to work.

Salaries are not what they were. Prices are going up. What happens to the mother who cannot afford birth control because her employer does not believe in it? She goes to the government for assistance. Another child, another family dependent on tax dollars for financial support.

The fact that this ruling exists and is now law creates a dangerous precedence. If a employer can claim religious exemption when eliminating birth control from the employee health plan, what else can they deny their employees? The right to deny an employee the right to add personal touches to their work space because they don’t like what they see? The right to turn down an employee’s request to use a personal day for religious observance because the employer and employee do not see eye to eye on religion?

The Hobby Lobby ruling is wrong. No employer has the right to dictate an employee’s beliefs. Period.