Thread Drift

[ny biker]

Blueberry, the situation in this country regarding student loans is appalling.

I have to confess, I don't want to go to the women's march. Inertia I guess. But I feel like I have to go. It may not accomplish anything. But as a certain German bike racer once said, if you try to to win, you might lose. But if you don't try, you lose for sure.

So now I have to get my hands on a clear backpack -- regular ones aren't allowed for security reasons.

[shootingstar]

Appreciate the health care insurance/coverages stories. In Alberta, local residents and citizens don't have to pay the govn't any monthly premium. In British Columbia, yes everyone pays a minimum regardless of whether or not you see a doctor that year. It's pretty low cost.

I have to confess, I don't want to go to the women's march. Inertia I guess. But I feel like I have to go. It may not accomplish anything. But as a certain German bike racer once said, if you try to to win, you might lose. But if you don't try, you lose for sure.

So now I have to get my hands on a clear backpack -- regular ones aren't allowed for security reasons.

Let us know how the march goes. Stay safe, NY. It isn't about "winning": It is about sending a clear public signal and mobilizing next generations to stay committed to listen, act positively, think clearly, and be unafraid to speak out, after our generation.

Blueberry, the major CAnadian universities, have gotten a significant number of American student applications this upcoming year. International student tuituion fees are a lot higher for all CAnadian university programs...it's been that way for decades and will not change.

[ny biker]

Hoping this will post okay -- it was posted on the News and Guts facebook page which was started by Dan Rather and some colleagues.

https://www.facebook.com/newsandguts...02530466818596

In sharing this to followers of his own page, Rather said:

When my colleagues and I started the Facebook news page for my News And Guts company, the goal was to create a digital town hall where information could be exchanged in free and open communication. As reporters, we wanted to listen more than we spoke. And one thing we have been hearing a lot in the few days this page has been online is the anxiety bordering on panic amongst many in our community about the GOP determination to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

As a reporter, I think this may be a national story not getting nearly enough attention amongst the press who are so focused on the political parlor games in Washington. I think there is a groundswell of activism around this issue for millions of Americans, with an intensity and determination that may echo the Tea Party - but in reverse. I also believe the implications of this profound change to our current healthcare system may be dawning on many beneficiaries of the ACA, who didn't realize that their new healthcare options were indeed the product of the much-maligned "Obamacare."

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks for sharing this post and FB page, NY. I have now liked and followed it. The stories there are very powerful. Ours is more mundane since we haven't needed the ACA for anything major other than a safety net -- and free preventive care, which can help, as the name implies, PREVENT more serious illnesses. If they take that away, more people will need more expensive and longer-term healthcare services, which costs us all more as a society. Makes no sense to me....

Reading about the cancer patients who can now afford health insurance courtesy of the ACA/Obamacare (and it is true that some people don't realize they are one and the same!) reminds me of my husband's best friend, who died of colon cancer at the way-too-young age of 49. He had symptoms but had been laid off from his job in the early 2000's. His Cobra policy had run out before he found another job, and he couldn't get or afford health insurance on the open market. So he went without, delayed getting checked out, and by the time he was diagnosed, he was stage 4.

THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN IN A FIRST-WORLD COUNTRY (or anywhere). It still makes my blood boil!

He did eventually find a job with medical insurance, but it was too late to save his life. This was a college-educated man who worked as a software engineer, not some street bum. He left four children and a wife behind.

Tragic. We cannot allow this to happen again!