Reducing Poverty Needs Our Assistance
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A Good Day To Advocate for Better Healthcare
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Health Care Worker’s Pay
Some of the lowest-paid health care workers in California will get a pay bump this week under a California state law gradually increasing their wages to at least $25 an hour.
Workers at rural, independent health care facilities will start making a minimum of $18 an hour, while others at hospitals with at least 10,000 full-time employees will begin getting paid at least $23 an hour this week. The law will increase workers’ pay over the next decade, with the $25 hourly rate kicking in sooner for some than others.
About 350,000 workers will be paid more under the law according to the University of California, Berkeley Labor Center. (AP).
This is a step in the right direction. We have a poverty problem in America and part of what fuels it is incredibly low minimum wages. Federally, $7.25/hour. try to live on $14,500/year. Just hold that thought.
Intergenerational Poverty
I went to a National Academy of Sciences meeting this week on intergenerational poverty. The investigators were tasked with understanding why poverty seems to persist generation to generation and what can be done to help alleviate it. Here is their report, https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27058/reducing-intergenerational-poverty.
On average, measuring over 40 years or so, the researchers found that if you are born poor the odds are 2 to 1 you won’t be when you grow up. Only about 34% of those born into poor families are poor as adults. That’s good. Still, that’s 1 out of 3 left behind and it is millions and millions of people left behind that can’t make it out.
A huge problem is that our country is not set up with sufficient help for families and especially mothers. That includes daycare, early childhood programs, year round nutritional support, housing assistance etc. We believe people are there to cheat the system. It is wrong and it is time we accepted truth instead of believing the false narrative. People who make use of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF - what was welfare) do not linger on the program. It is usually a mother who has just had a child and needs help for 2 years or less. No lingering just a hand up.. Of course, if we really cared about families, and had social network systems in place that covered early care, day care, housing and nutrition we wouldn’t be having this discussion at all. Here is a good reference on TANF from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
What has been demonstrated to work is raising the money families have available as children are growing up. Federal programs like the earned income tax credit (EITC) have a long history of helping. Increasing it will take more children out of poverty and give them a better chance at a significantly better life.
ACTION
Let’s let our federal elected reps know what they can do to help alleviate childhood poverty.
se RESISTBOT via [Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER] or by texting SIGN PPSMHU to 50409 on your cell phone to send this message to your member of Congress and senators.
“I am your constituent and I just learned that if a child is born in poverty they stand a 1 in 3 chance of being poor as an adult. Here is a link to the National Academy of Sciences report released October 17, 2024 on the subject. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27058/reducing-intergenerational-poverty
There are lots of things that can help. Making sure there is a basic level of income in the house is a major proven part of the solution. The Earnied Income Tax Credit is a proven help to reducing child poverty. I want you to modify it to help that other third of children to have a chance to escape poverty.
I want you to:
Combine an expansion of the EITC with expanding coverage of the Child Care and Development Fund block grant to help address the problem of a mismatch between the timing of child care expenses and EITC receipt during a child’s first year of life.
Combine an expansion of the EITC with expanding coverage of the Child Care and Development Fund block grant to provide more generous and timely reimbursement for the child care expenses of low-income parents.
Combine an expansion of the EITC with expanding coverage of the Child Care and Development Fund block grant along the lines of what was implemented temporarily for the 2021 tax year.
While I have your attention, the federal minimum wage current level of $7.25/hour and should be increased to $15.00 to help those families living in such desperate conditions.
I know you care about families. Please show it. Thank you.'“
Drug Stores Closing
CVS, the largest US chain, closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020. In 2021, it announced plans to close an additional 900 stores. Earlier this month, CVS said it planned to cut about 2,900 corporate jobs. And Rite Aid filed for bankruptcy last year, closing up to 500 stores.
Drug store chains are struggling because of lower reimbursement rates for prescription drugs, according to analysts who cover the industry.
The majority of drugstores’ sales comes from filling prescriptions. But their profits from that business have dropped in recent years as reimbursement rates for prescription drugs fall while fees rise. Blame Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBM) for that. The prices customers pay for drugs and the payments pharmacies receive are set by those PBMs.
Those PBMs take bribes from drug companies to put drugs on insurance plan formuaries and then tell drug stores to accept reimbursements for the entire formualry for that insurance company. Some drugs are sold at a loss. The PBM gets away with it because the drug store needs people to come in the door. If they don’t sign the agreement then they lose access to an entire insurance company’s policy holders.
Many other non prescription items sold in drug stores are often purchased online or at other discount outlets. This again reduces profits. So with reimbursement rates being reduced and drug stores unable to offset those reductions with other sales, closure is the natural result.
We are at a point where the current pharmacy model is not sustainable.
Roughly one out of every eight pharmacies closed between 2009 and 2015, which disproportionately affected independent pharmacies and low-income neighborhoods, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Of course people in low income areas will suffer. Making their lives harder does not seem to matter much to those at the top. (CNN)
Long COVID Insights
Scientists and doctors have suspected for years that one cause of the mysterious condition known as long COVID may be reservoirs of the virus that remain hidden in the bodies of its victims long after their acute infections have passed. Earlier this month, a research team led by Boston-area scientists unveiled a study suggesting that this is true for almost half of those suffering from the condition. (Boston Globe)
Trump’s Medical Records - What a Crock!
Omarosa Manigault Newman claimed former President Trump “dictated” what doctors wrote about his medical history, making the allegation during a recent CNN appearance. “Let’s recall that Donald Trump dictated the letters that went out about his medical history, but doctors weren’t free to write what they want,” Manigault Newman said in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. The former Trump White House aide endorsed Vice President Harris for the 2024 election and has been adamant about publicly chronicling her interactions with her former boss.
VOTE ACCORDINGLY UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT AND MAKE LYING WRONG AGAIN AGAIN!!!
RESOURCES
Find My Elected Officials
Contact State and Federal Representatives - phone and email
Healthcare Advocacy (Us) Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare - Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
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I thought in the 70's helping single moms go to college got them out of povery and out of abusive relationships. Borh great modeling for children. Wonder what the poverty rate is for children as adults whose morhers have a higher education or trade?