Quote Originally Posted by missjean View Post
Does it ever strike you the the US is a 100 pounds of cure is better than 1 ounce of prevention country?
We fund the big money social programs, but then we balk at funding programs that could help reduce the dependence on those programs.
Here in NH funds were cut for Alzheimer’s day care and caregiver support, and funding for programs that helped people with mental health issues. The caregivers who had been able to hold down jobs because they had a safe place to have their family member looked after had to quit their jobs to go on assistance, or had to put the family member in a state funded nursing home - which costs much more.

I recently had a conversation with a man from VT who works with an organization that helps women who have been released from prison. There is a high recidivism rate with these women. They have a hard time finding work, so they can get state subsidizes for rent, but it is such a small amount they can only afford to live in the bad sections of town. Not the best place to live if you are trying to avoid bad influences that landed you in jail the first time.

And then this whole movement to defund Planned Parenthood! You want less abortions & unplanned babies that will wind up on welfare? Taking away what birth control there is for poor women does not seem to be the smartest plan.

I so totally don't get it either. I really wish more preventative care would be covered and provided actually. I must give credit to a previous company my husband worked for in this category. As part of their health care (although not part of the health insurance) they would refund upto $200 a year for anything that was health/exercise related. Things included gym memberships, bicycles, exercise bikes, ect.

I also don't get the whole let's defund Planned Parenthood and while we're at it, make abortions impossible to get, even in medical necessary cases (Georgia law, which did not pass the state Senate) and make birth control illegal. On the last part I had visions of having to find my local drug dealer so I could buy birth control.