On this summer Sunday morning, I’m surrounded by green as I sit in my favorite spot in the back yard. Having grown up in apartments in New York, I always resented when someone would suggest that I was missing something by living in the city, but I think that I know what they were talking about. I wouldn’t say that this is necessarily better, but there’s no denying that it is different.
The quiet, the low humidity and the glimpses of wildlife are aspects of living in the Poconos that provide me with a feeling of serenity – especially on a summer Sunday morning.
I spend so much time away from here during the week that it’s easy to forget that this place has become a haven from the often unkind world that we share. There are many problems out there and it’s comforting to have a place that feels distant and detached from the world’s problems, if only for moments at a time.
In addition to my own struggles, I find that the struggles of others fill my mind – especially when my mind is free to wander. Like many, I feel the pain of strangers and wish that I could do more to help. Sure, we can vote, volunteer, or simply commiserate with those who need to be heard, but it just doesn’t feel like these actions are enough.
I often feel powerless.
Is that how most of us live our lives: hoping for better times for our country, but feeling limited in our ability to bring those better times about? What goes through the minds of those who actually do possess the power to help people during their times of need?
Congress has this kind of power.
But what have they done with it? Do they do what is best for the people that they represent?
Most of us would say, no.
Today, I learned that Congress will not renew emergency healthcare for unemployed workers.
Emergency healthcare works like this: Businesses pay 65% of COBRA premiums for displaced workers, thereby making continued healthcare insurance coverage affordable for the newly unemployed. Businesses are then allowed to deduct these payments as credits against their payroll taxes.
- Businesses are not adversely impacted;
- Unemployed workers and their families remain covered;
- IT’S TEMPORARY!
This is a no-brainer, yet Congress has chosen to swell the ranks of the uninsured at the same time that many of them are taking bows for passing health care reform.
The incongruity of their actions defies comprehension.
The unemployed that we are talking about here had jobs. They are not among the perpetually unemployed. They, in all likelihood, will be employed again. So why force them to have a gap in coverage?
Congress has the power to help, but they won’t.
Now that Congress has decided that the emergency is over for unemployed Americans, I wonder what our representatives are thinking about on this summer Sunday morning.
Ray } – 
