9. Now you really cannot afford insurance premiums.
10. You get sick...(see step 5)

So until a better option is put on the table (for kicks and giggles, let's say a single payer system), without ACA insurance premium subsidies, the escalation of costs is guaranteed to spiral. 3/3

6. You can't pay for the care you receive.
7. You end up in collections and the hospital is forced to increase its cost to cover your uncompensated care.
8. Insurance companies increase their premiums to cover the cost of increased health care costs...2/3

I did. I had a school counselor, a guidance counselor, and I was a member of Peer Helpers - young people trained to help struggling classmates find resources.

Two years ago, I amended Sen. Giessel's SNAP bill and added school based Medicaid for mental health services.

HR 1 threatens that bill.

"To undo a mistake is always harder than not to create one originally but we seldom have the foresight.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

For folks who are interested in learning more:
www.whitehousehistory.org/japanese-inc...

www.nps.gov/articles/ero...

www.npr.org/2019/07/17/7...

You are correct. We need 45 forward thinking lawmakers or a new governor.

@cliffgroh.bsky.social has a bill to do just this.

Last night CO passed an initiative to tax the rich to feed hungry kids. There are a lot of things we could do if we had a more equitable tax system than simply garnishing PFDs, which is beyond regressive.

Thanks for the heads up. I am at a Medicaid + Mental Health Summit right now where I plan to highlight this exact issue during a panel discussion I am on.

2 years ago I amended a bill to expand school based Medicaid for mental health services. It is past time to put that legislation to work.

The link goes to a 404 page :/ @ak-afl-cio.bsky.social

Recently, the President called for the abolishment of the U.S. Senate Filibuster, one of the many mechanisms that protects against the tyranny of the majority.

Time will only tell if lawmakers re-assert their authority and defend the rights of the people who elected them. 5/5

Over the past year, President Trump has challenged the constitutional powers of both Congress and the Judiciary, all while Congress has decidedly not asserted their responsibility to govern, appropriate, and defend individual constitutional rights (like due process). 4/5

Eventually, the constitutional framers decided that 3 co-equal branches of government and a Bill of Rights could best protect the rights of the minority.

However, as we all are witnessing, these protections only work when each of the co-equal branches assert their authority. 3/5

Many attributed the origins of the term to Alexis de Tocqueville, who used the term in his book "Democracy in America;" however, constitutional framer John Adams used the term while debating against an elected unicameral government.

Adams codified his adamant opposition in Federalist Paper 10. 2/5