MURTHA AIRPORT BAILOUT
Happy 4th of July!!!
Today is the United States of America’s 233 birthday! Many men and women have sacrificed blood, sweat, and tears to make this great ongoing experiment live on! America is not an accident that happened on a whim but rather a miracle!
Today take a moment to show gratitude to a veteran or active duty service member of the U.S. Armed Forces!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdInwZQ2eFA
Government-Mandated Health Insurance – Could It Be Any Simpler?
The proposal: Everyone must purchase health insurance. The government will help offset insurance costs for those who cannot afford it. Insurance companies will not deny anyone coverage or increase premiums based on an individuals’ health status.
Could it be any simpler? Such a system would not only provide health care coverage for every American, it would do so in a way that does not jeopardize the quality of care received. Because insurance and health care would remain privatized, Americans would not have to suffer through long waits for inadequate care – a fate that has riddled international universal health care systems with hassles and hold-ups.
Yes, Americans would have to make one concession: Everybody would have to purchase insurance or suffer a tax penalty. This keeps premiums low for everyone, and is the key selling point to get the insurance industry on board. Some say that this type of system will only work to keep insurance executives employed. Yes… and so what? If they’re giving Americans – and especially pregnant women – what we want and what we need, they should be able to keep their jobs. It’s funny how people will complain about universal health care coverage, yet sit idle while Congress passes a stimulus bill that, among other things, will spend half a million dollars on a fruit fly facility, millions for land acquisition, and many more millions for infrastructure updates.
Universal health care is not socialism – it is people taking care of people. That principle has nothing to do with economic systems, social classes or geography. Every one of us depends on someone else for survival, from the baby suckling from her mother’s breast to the CEO cashing in on consumer spending. Classes might be divided; but our country – and humanity – is united.
The proposed universal health care system is simple, and provides for everyone. Under it, disadvantaged pregnant women would no longer have to suffer the indignity and stress of begging for maternity services and fair and equal treatment. All pregnant women would have access to proper prenatal care, and all children would receive proper medical care.
Taxes that cover Medicaid, Medicare and a slew of other federal, state and local health care assistance programs would no longer be necessary, not to mention the taxes that currently assist hospitals in covering the costs of government-mandated emergency services for the uninsured and unable to pay. These are taxes we’re already paying.
Some have said that universal health care would cost $1.5 trillion, which might be true. What they’re leaving out of the argument is that Medicare spending alone is expected to exceed that mark within the next 20 years. By consolidating all of our health into one program, we can reduce redundancies, increase efficiencies and provide much-needed high-quality health care for everyone – including pregnant women – while still saving money.
Or, are we being set up???? I want your thoughts?
Dollar-Free Donations
Many people understand the plight that uninsured pregnant women face, before and after delivery. Some of those people want to help; and some pregnant women are lucky enough to receive charitable donations that help them survive during economically tumultuous times.
Non-profit organizations like Maternity Health award scholarships for maternity care expenses, funded by monetary donations. Unfortunately, not everyone can donate money – especially during a recession.
But just because you don’t have the extra cash doesn’t mean you can’t donate meaningfully, or that your gifts won’t be graciously accepted. Dollar-free donations for uninsured pregnant women come in many forms and from many different sponsors: businesses, individuals, families, foundations and others can always find items to donate to pregnant women. And women who recently received charity during their own pregnancies are encouraged to pay it forward by passing along unused baby supplies to newly-pregnant women.
Take a quick look through your pantry, attic or nursery to see if you can donate:
- Maternity clothes
- Blankets
- Pillows
- Beds/Cribs/Bassinets
- Diapers
- Baby shampoo/soap
- Changing table
- Baby swing
- High chairs
- Car seats
- Books on raising babies/children
- Gift certificates
- Food
- Toys
Your donated items can save pregnant women a lot of money and help ease their struggles. Several maternity charity organizations exist that can pass your donations along to uninsured pregnant women, or you can give personalized donations to families in your area. You can often find a local outpost – try contacting your Chamber of Commerce for ideas – or you can donate your items to a food pantry to resell in order to pay for food for needy families. Many of these organizations allow your donations to be earmarked for pregnant women and women with young children, so you can make sure your donations are going to the people you intend.
Dollar-free donations are easy, can help you clear clutter and make you feel good about helping those less fortunate. Most importantly, your donations can reduce financial stresses and bring satisfaction, security and joy to pregnant women and their children. Donate dollar-free today!
The Family Medical and Leave Act Rendered Worthless Especially for the working Class Pregnant Mom
The Family Medical and Leave Act protects the rights of mothers to take up to 12 weeks off from work for childbirth (see the fact sheet here: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf). Despite this, more and more new mothers are returning to the workplace sooner than they wanted to help stabilize family finances, as reported by Dana Mattioli in the Wall Street Journal (http://blogs.wsj.com/juggle/2009/03/11/new-mothers-cutting-short-maternity-leave/).
The current economic climate has put a strain on American families – especially when a mother is out of work and a father is laid off. Our need to earn has forced women to give up their rights and the precious bonding that only mothers and babies can share.
The FMLA requires that employers with at least 50 employees allow for 12 weeks of unpaid workleave – but allows mothers to waive that right. And that’s exactly what many mothers are doing. The FMLA is now essentially worthless.
If the government really wants the FMLA to do some good, it would require that maternity leave be paid. We’re expected to give 30 years of our lives to the workforce, profiting CEOs exponentially. Can’t they be expected to help cover the bills for a few months out of three decades? Or should the government pick up the tab with all the paper money it is printing?
Perhaps originally intended to help disadvantaged mothers invoke their right to recovery and bond with their newborns, a lack of foresight has now made the FMLA relevant to the advantaged. If families can’t afford maternity leave, then the Family Medical and Leave Act does little for them. It benefits the advantaged, yet leaves the disadvantaged to struggle for survival.
Perhaps the Obama administration should revisit the Family and Medical Leave Act and not only provide time, but also the means to survive while women care for their children.
Pregnant Women and Newborns At Greatest Risk During Pandemic
The other day I postulated that our government is more concerned with the swine flu, which as of this writing has killed three people in the United States, than the prenatal care inaccessibility epidemic, which kills more than 6,000 babies in the United States each year. Pregnant women and their babies are continually left to fend for themselves when it comes to political policy.
And so it should come as no surprise that the groups at greatest risk for suffering the devastating effects of a pandemic are pregnant women and newborns (http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=4970). The irony is thick, indeed.
At least some of us are watching out for the sake of pregnant women and their babies; and our cause gained even more momentum this week when a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center study published in the Emerging Health Threats Journal (http://www.eht-forum.org/ehtj/journal/v2/full/ehtj09002a.html?fileId=ehtj09002a&page=recent) concluded that priority must be given to pregnant women and their babies in the event of a flu epidemic.
Still, it’s unsettling that our country’s most precious resources are drowning in the bottom as everyone else steps on their figurative heads to get closer to the top of the bucket. Only slightly less unsettling is that the UPMC study found that while 78% of responding maternity hospitals had written plans for handling a sudden influx of sick patients, fewer than 44% of those same hospitals had written plans for stockpiling and replenishing resources to care for those patients.
From the UPMC study Abstract: “In conclusion, the majority of the Council of Women’s and Infants’ Specialty Hospitals maternity hospitals have preliminary infrastructure for pandemic influenza planning, but many challenges exist to optimize maternal and fetal outcomes during the next influenza pandemic.”
In one respect, this is just another heaping helping of hurt piled on the collective plates of Moms in the Middle. On the other hand, the study brings to light inherent problems in the maternity medical infrastructure – and that’s the first step to developing solutions.
Let’s bring all the problems to light, so we can solve each and every one.
MEMORIAL DAY
I Need Your Help
Advocate Aaron Supporters:
As you all are aware I fight every single day to help make sure moms can have affordable access to prenatal care. Prenatal care is VERY serious and without it “babies born to mothers who receive no prenatal care are three times more likely to be born at a low birth weight, and five times more likely to die, than those whose mothers received prenatal care.” –US department of Health & Human Services
Three weeks ago I was in Washington, DC lobbying and fighting for this very cause. I had the pleasure of working with Karen Fennell, one of the top lobbyist in the women’s health arena. Karen contacted me today and asked me if I could enlist the Advocate Aaron Army. I responded with an ENTHUSIASTIC “YES”, and told her it would be impossible for our moms, friends, family, relatives, etc. to NOT come through with flying colors. The task is SIMPLE, but, I need you to do it NOW and I need you to forward it to EVERYONE you know. This isn’t about us. It is MUCH bigger. This is literally about life and death for the innocent babies whose mothers CANNOT access affordable prenatal care.
Please see the message from Karen below and then TAKE ACTION NOW!!!!
PRO MOM!!!
AdvocateAaron
A Healthy pregnancy for a Healthy baby
Dear Mothers and Friends:
Pregnant Women’s Access to Care is in danger in many States. Over 43% of women’s pregnancy care is paid for by the Medicaid program; an additional 18% of pregnant women have no health insurance.
Action by the Federal Government has jeopardized the financial stability of our birth centers. I am asking you and your friends to sign on to a letter to the United States Congress to fix this problem. As a Mother and Grandmother of twin girls, I cannot stand back and let pregnant women be left with no care.
We need 10,000 signatures by May 31st to ensure that all pregnant women have access to quality, affordable health care. Stop the Federal Government from excluding pregnant women from receiving the care they deserve.
Go to the American Association of Birth Centers website at www.birthcenters.org/news/breaking-news/?id=82 and sign our consumer letter. You can make a difference!
Sincerely,
Karen S. Fennell, MS, RN
Consultant
Healthcare Advisory Solutions
Maternity Healthcare is in Crisis
