#5SmartReads - May 5, 2023

Marisa on denying abortion, shrinking future of college, and being sent to the principal's office over the Holocaust

May 05, 2023

Marisa is a corporate employee benefits account executive, a freelance writer, and #5SmartReads contributor, but her favorite title is definitely "mom." Currently reading: Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin. Currently watching: Mara Wilson in the 1996 film Matilda - it's one of my childhood favorites and now my four year old daughter is newly obsessed!

The University of Kansas Health System is one of the pre-eminent hospitals in my metro area. They rank nationally in a number of specialties and are home to the only medical school in the state of KS (although, notably, not in the state of Missouri, which they closely border - and by closely, I mean their flagship hospital sits right on a street called "State Line Road.")

They are also at the center of the first known investigation CMS has made into facility compliance with EMTALA, or the federal mandate that requires hospitals provide stabilizing, emergency care, since the Dobbs decision came out last summer.

The big takeaway?

"It’s important to know that the federal EMTALA requirements have not changed, and continue to require that health care professionals offer treatment, including abortion care, that the provider reasonably determines is necessary to stabilize the patient’s emergency medical condition.”

If you've paid any attention to national abortion politics at all, something about that may sound odd. After all, isn't Kansas supposed to be a haven for reproductive rights here in the midwest? Yes, yes it is. And in fact, abortions are up substantially in Kansas and other mid-America states where abortion services remain legal, representing about 1/4 of the denied abortions in surrounding states.

Interestingly enough, abortions have not ticked up on either coast - meaning that for most folks who need reproductive healthcare, providers within driving distance are going to be the safest bet for maintaining even the semblance of access to care.

And what that means, at the end of the day, is that people in blue states on the coasts have to care what happens in red and purplish states like Kansas - and that blue and purplish voters in those states have to keep showing up at the ballot.

This is INFURIATING.

I really don't understand why Republicans have decided to pick a fight about any level of student loan forgiveness or policy reformation. In this case, one of the provisions that would be blocked makes sure that students aren't paying interest on federally owned student loans as long as they are making payments on time.

Blocking it, according to the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, would "make permanent the debt trap for any borrower who does not earn enough money to afford their monthly loan bills."

You know how I know this is true? I spent many years on an income-driven debt payment plan for my $180,000 in school loans. I made about $75,000 a year and was paying roughly $750/month on my loans for six plus years. And in that time, my balances didn't decrease. AT ALL. In fact, they actually went up by about $10k because virtually none of that money went towards the principal because my IDR plan barely even covered the interest.

I was a Pell grant student. I took out loans because without them, college and law school wouldn't have been in the cards for me. And no matter how much money I make now or in the future, I will always stand with those who believe that the government shouldn't be profiting off funding higher education.

This article is fascinating and makes so many different points that it's hard to summarize in a pithy way.

It explains the million reasons why college enrollment is about to fall drastically - costs and demographics being just two of the many factors at play here. It's an interesting read for those of us socking money away in 529s for our children's educational futures, and for those of us who surely won't be able to finance an education at Harvard or Yale, raises some concerning questions about what will even be left by the time our kids reach college age.

This article has been on my mind for the last month because, TBH, I am just waiting for the day when something like this happens in my family. My overarching parental philosophy is honesty about EVERYTHING.

Yes, in an age appropriate way, and no, not in graphic detail depending on the subject, but I grew up in a family full of secrets, where lots of things were off limits to little minds and little ears, and I really think that was incredibly damaging to me and my relationships with my parents and other so-called authority figures.

Who can you trust if you can't trust your parents and teachers to be honest with you, even about - or ESPECIALLY about - the hard things? And how will the next generation learn to do better if we aren't honest with them about the past - and the future?

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