Part 1: Rebecca Schumann, based in Oregon, writes for Slate.com
We see the state of Oregon, during the pandemic, and, more critically at present, during the west coast fires. Oregon is two states, the state that has population centers, and the people are liberal, and the rural, less populous part of the state, where Qanon has many adherents. These two extremes have trouble communicating with each other. Trump has spent no extraordinary effort to help the west coast, and continues to deny the role of global climate change in the current fire situation. Instead, her continues to admonish the west coast to “rake the leaves in the forest, and avoid exploding trees.” Whole towns have burned to the ground, displacing the populace. Neither side trusts the government, thus undermining the concept of government. But everyone understands the concept of power. People in the West are worried that they are being abandoned and forgotten by the federal government.
Part 2: We discuss Health care with Rosemarie Day, who is the former administrator of the Massachusetts Health Connector, and has extensive experience with health policy and health insurance. She is the CEO of Day Health Strategies. She is the author of “Marching toward Coverage”, a guide for health consumers, especially women, toward achieving higher levels of health care. Currently, health care is conflated with health insurance. This is a problem because insurance is often tied to employment. Under the current pandemic conditions, many people have lost their jobs, and thus their health insurance. The effects of climate change are being felt through various natural disaster events. Currently, the middle class health care is subsidized by the subsidies to insurance companies, while lower income people without jobs cannot share in this. We discuss how the government safety net can be expanded to provide coverage to more people.
https://scoutsomerville.com/marching-toward-coverage/
