I didn’t get one of those Finnish baby boxes, with all sorts of items any new mother would need for her baby, including sheets, clothing, diapers, and other assorted items. Instead, I got my son’s pediatrician who told me within a half hour of giving birth that I’d better take some notes because he was going to tell me what I needed to do.
Although I didn’t realize it at the time, Carter Stilson was a genius because he forced me and probably thousands of other young mothers who had just given birth to think about something more than how miserable they felt. But, here, in the richest nation on the earth, so many young mothers are given neither baby boxes nor good medical care, especially now that many pregnant women have been taken off Medicaid.
Medical care now seems to belong only to those who can afford it, and many cannot. Medical care costs more for us than in many other industrialized nations. There is clearly something wrong here. Maybe it’s the $47.1 billion that the Pentagon admits we have spent on war in Iran. That would pay for a lot more than a good pediatrician and baby boxes.
Prayer for the Day
Source of life and peace, who turns not away from your children,
Hear our prayer and give us the power to change hearts,
Turning hatred into love and fear into understanding.
Move us from the night of conflict to the never ending day of peace
Turning vengeance into forgiveness and reconciliation
And retribution into kindness and mercy.
In the name of the One who shows your mercy to all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Without Medicaid, neither of us would have insurance. My employer doesn’t offer health coverage and I can’t afford the five hundred dollar a month private plan with high deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. If we lose Medicaid, we lose everything. “P.S. I am a healthcare worker with a Bachelor’s degree. This isn’t about being too lazy to work.
Mother in Delaware
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The cost of war is like an immeasurable tremor that knows no borders, its shockwaves reverberating across the world resulting in universal suffering.
Aysha Taryam, Editor-in-Chief, The Gulf Today
By wisdom is a house built, and by understanding it is established;
By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24: 3-4