Minorities and Illegals Hogging up Obamacare?

The 2016 election brought out so much ugliness that it's sometimes overwhelming to think about much less digest. There's been analysis, finger-pointing and name-calling, but none of it changes the past. It's important to look to the future which, I admit, is hard to do given the direction that the federal government wants to take us.

One of the issues the 2016 election brought to the surface is the rampant racism, hatred, and misogyny that pulses through America's veins. Sometimes these pulses are larger and stronger than other times, but they have never ceased; they are always there.

Republicans like to put topics like welfare and healthcare into clean little boxes with such labels like "privilege". I remember under Bush, Jr., Republicans began to use the word "privilege" when talking about welfare and how it should be reformed. To some degree, I actually agree with them on this topic, but it certainly is NOT, nor has it EVER been a "privilege." We all pay into the till that is welfare and, should we ever need to use it, it is our right to have that money, not a privilege to. People forget this. But, Republicans count on that. They are master manipulators and master marketers. The Democrats could learn a lesson or two from them when it comes to mass marketing an idea and selling it.

As a result of this ability to master manipulate, Republicans have expertly convinced white people that minorities and (illegal) immigrants have stolen rights from Americans. What they really mean is that minorities and immigrants have stolen rights from white Americans. On this note, enter Trump. He rode this wave all the way to the White House. Taking this fear of "the other," he and Republicans campaigned for Obamacare repeal arguing that not only is it too costly, but that it is "giving away" healthcare to all those who didn't deserve it. In other words, the federal government is giving away healthcare to minorities and immigrants, mainly the illegal ones, and that this should be stopped.

But....really? Is this true? Are the minorities and illegals hogging up Obamacare?

Los Angeles Times published this article about children and healthcare. Taking a map of rural US counties, they were broken down by which counties voted for Hillary and which ones voted for Trump, and how much of those counties' constituents depended on government-issued healthcare.

For example, Fayette County in West Virginia overwhelmingly voted for Trump, yet 53% of its children rely on Medicaid and CHIP (Children Health Insurance Program).

564,000 people in West Virginia are covered by Medicaid.

47% of West Virginia children with special healthcare needs are covered by Medicare.

Fayette County in West Virginia is also mainly white. [1]

Do you think the parents of Fayette County are somewhat concerned as congressional Republicans move to cut hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade from Medicaid? These parents voted for someone who degrades women, stole from other businesses (by not paying them for services), filed for bankruptcy multiple times, doesn't understand policy or how to govern, yet rode to the White House on a mountain of racist and hatred-filled sentiments. He has even surrounded himself with people whose agenda is to bring back a white America (whatever that means). The hatred and fear of "the other" is so deep among white people that they willingly gambled on their children's health. Please read that sentence again.

Here's what kids lose without coverage:

- fewer to no check-ups

- fewer to no immunizations

- more lost days of school

- more trips to the emergency room

- families must choose: food or healthcare

I'm no economist, but the above short-list of what children lose without insurance doesn't seem to invest in a child's future which then, looking long-term, doesn't invest in the future of America. A sick child doesn't go to school who then falls behind who then drop-outs who then becomes a burden on society because s/he has no developed skills. How is this a cycle people want?

Here's what a kid gains when insured:

- better health

- improved reading and test scores

- lowers risk of being a high school drop out

- increases future earnings

20 years ago, about 14% of children nation-wide lacked healthcare coverage. Today, that number is at 5%. How is this a bad thing? Yet, "Senate GOP legislation would slash more than a third of federal Medicaid funds over the next 20 years and nearly double the ranks of the uninsured by 2026." [2] I always thought the idea for a country was to move forward, not backward.

Going back to the map of the rural US counties for a sec. Out of 780 counties looked at nationwide, 622 had a majority of children on Medicaid.  Most of these children are white (whose parents voted for Trump, let's not forget), and these children, the future of America, are at risk of losing healthcare if Trump and Republicans get their way. Please read that sentence again.

Aren't Republicans the party of "family values?" Are children no longer a part of that equation?

"The funding cap in the Senate bill would increase only at the rate of inflation, leaving states with an increasingly larger share of the medical costs, which have typically increased faster than inflation. And because the same flow of federal Medicaid money covers care for children as well as for poor seniors and the disabled, deep cuts would probably force states to decide who is more deserving of medical care." [3]

States will have to decide whether children deserve medical care or whether poor seniors and the disabled deserve medical care. Please. Read that sentence again. Then let me know who of you is itching to run for State Assembly, State Senate, or Governor with that possibly on the horizon.

A country is only as good as its constituents. If the constituents won't have a heart for everyone, including those who look different from them, there is no healthcare out there that can save that heart.

Map of the counties. [4] More detail found in article cited above, but for additional information, including seeing the above map, please visit here. 

For more information on the subject please read The Atlantic's "How Kids Would Fare Under the American Health Care Act."

[1] Levey, Noam N. "Children's health at risk in Trump country." Los Angeles Times, 06 July 2017: A1. Print.

[2] Levey, Noam N. "Children's health at risk in Trump country." Los Angeles Times, 06 July 2017: A9. Print.

[3] Levey, Noam N. "Children's health at risk in Trump country." Los Angeles Times, 06 July 2017: A9. Print.
[4] Krishnakumar, Priya and Levey Noam. 2017 July 6. "Medicaid's vital role for children in Trump Country." www.latimes.com/projects/la-na-pol-medicaid-children/ 

My Lithuanian American Experience 

and the NY Bombing Suspect, Ahman Rahami

       This is in response to Sunday’s LA Time’s article about the arrest of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the NY bombing suspect. I feel I am in a unique position to offer some insight from the side of immigrants as well as from the children who grew up in the US or who were born here to immigrant parents. I am a second-generation Lithuanian (on my mother’s side) born in the US who grew up in the Lithuanian community. I grew up with stories of my grandparents fleeing Lithuania during WWII where their families were torn apart and plagued by atrocities conducted by Stalin and the communists, and yet somehow found ways to laugh and sing.

I grew up with a mother whose entire childhood was dominated by the Lithuanian language and Lithuanian-oriented activities. But, her childhood and early adult years were also sprinkled with Elvis, the Beatles, JFK, free love, Martin Luther King, and the Vietnam War. Despite my grandparents’ belief that one day they would all return to a free Lithuania, my mom would never be a Lithuanian from Lithuania like they. Even the way the language was spoken by my mom (and later us) would be different from those who were born and raised in Lithuania.

My mother was a single-mom (my father was not Lithuanian) and she raised me and my sister in a Lithuanian household and we attended Lithuanian Saturday school. We lived and breathed Lithuanian scouts and camps, danced in festivals across the nation, and always lived a dual life: one with our non-Lithuanian friends and one with. I am now doing the same with my own daughters which is only possible with the 100% support of my non-Lithuanian husband. However, I have always considered myself to be an American who happens to speak another language which happens to be Lithuanian.

My mother’s upbringing and world was dual as well. This alone separated her from her parents immensely, and it was something with which EVERY immigrant family grapples. My grandparents learned enough English to get by, but there was no way they could connect and identify with the world in which my mother was growing up. This is, of course, natural between parents and their children, but it is especially underscored within immigrant families and particularly when looking at cultural differences. My husband, for example, an avid Beatles fan, could introduce their music to our older daughter and my mother-in-law could provide living history of what it was like to hear their music live for the first time on the Ed Sullivan Show. My mother would never have been able to share something prominent like that with her parents. She would have no connection to the music giants (mainly composers) of Lithuania during my grandparents’ coming of age days and they would have no connection to the music that my mom would have been listening to as a teenager. There could maybe be an intellectual understanding on my mother’s part, at least later in life, but there would be no connection to the day-to-day. Also, on a more personal note, my mom had trouble connecting to my total immersion of pop culture as a teen. While her world was split 50-50, American (pop culture) influences were much more a part of my life than hers. And I may not “get” my daughters’ eventual pop cultural references and influences, but I will understand them better than my mom with me or her mother with her.

What I find so many immigrant families doing, including my own, is coming to the US with the expectation that their lives will continue to be the same here as in their home country. I can understand the reason for this. There’s nothing else but their home country that they have to compare to. Yet, this is simply not the case. America is made up of so many fabrics which is what makes her so beautiful.

The Rahami family came to the US under political asylum and opened up a restaurant with the name First American Fried Chicken as a tribute to the United States. This shows gratitude and appreciation, for sure. But when Ahmad Rahami began a relationship in high school with a Dominican girl, Maria, his father, Mohammad, didn’t approve. He felt that the relationship with the girl was a disturbing influence of American culture. He ordered his son to travel to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and it was after these trips people noticed a change in Ahmad and that he became more serious about his religion. There is nothing inherently wrong with getting more serious about one’s religion, but I, personally, get uncomfortable when it is forced. And it feels like Mr. Rahami forced his son to fit a mold that only he saw fit.

“Born in Afghanistan in 1988, Ahmad had come to the US as a small child and rapidly inhaled American culture. [He] developed a passion for rap music, souped up cars and motorcycles…[and] favored tight jeans and fashionable t-shirts.” [1] Now, imagine growing up in one country and then being forced to go back to a country where the only connection you have to it is through your parents who themselves have not lived there for over 15 years. A lot can change in 15 years.

It was when Ahmad was 19 that he and Maria had a baby girl and his father refused to see the baby. Eventually, Maria broke it off with Ahmad and his heart broke. After the break-up, his relationship with his father was strained which isn’t surprising. Ahmad may have put himself in his father’s mold, but he is still a product of the influences that he experienced growing up in America, not Afghanistan. He was put in a position to deny who he was and what he wanted.

At the heart of all of this, is the failure on the part of the father (and maybe both parents) to acknowledge that the US is not Afghanistan. By bringing a family here, there are only so many rituals and traditions that one will be able to hold on to. The children who grow up in the US will have a different set of influence which will make their journey quite different from the one they would’ve had in their home country. This lack of acceptance on the part of the Rahami family has caused a town in New Jersey to fracture, a little girl to lose her father, a man to probably spend most of his life in an American jail, and a family torn apart. A family that probably left Afghanistan in the hope of escaping sadness and despair.

Keeping one’s culture alive is important. I am living proof of this. But it’s important to understand that culture is fluid, even within one's own culture. My daughters will not grow up with the exact same Lithuanian (American) culture as I did, and that’s OK because it is a different set of influences that surrounds them making their journey a different from the one I had. This will only help mold and shape them into the human beings they are meant to be.

1. Demick, Barbara (2016, September 25). Tolerance obscured imminent tragedy. Los Angeles Times, p. A12.