A recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that while billions of dollars have been spent over the past eighteen months, one in four households in America have been seriously impacted by the pandemic in terms of income, health care, housing, transportation, caregiving, and well-being.
The study in conjunction with the Harvard School of Public Health and NPR also found that the impacts were most severely felt among households earning less than $50,000 and affected ethnic and racial minorities more severely.
Although we tend to think of the impact in areas of high population volume, like cities, the historical disparity of care in rural America was also severely felt. Data show that this disparity continues to be most severely felt because the vaccination rate is lower and people based on their political beliefs are more resistant to wearing masks. As the old anti-war song goes, “When will they ever learn?”
Prayer for the Day
Give us grace, we pray, to bear each other’s pain,
People of faith as a community of love in your image
Give us imagination, we pray, to look beyond the limits
We often set for ourselves, thinking nothing can help,
Move us into your future with the promise of true life,
Open to the world as you present it.
In the name of him who opens our hearts,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen
Thoughts for the Day
Many health care providers, particularly physicians in rural and urban areas, are leaving the Government programs because of inadequate reimbursement rates.
Ron Wyden, U.S. Senator from Oregon
A common misconception about a small town in rural America is that everyone believes the same way. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Ree Drummond, American writer The Pioneer Woman
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in God’s word I hope;
My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning,
More than those who watch for the morning.
Psalm 130: 5-6