It’s that time of year again. Students nationwide are heading back to college and signing fresh promissory notes for financial aid. I am one of them. Many of us will mourn the loss of the summer sun while we simultaneously anticipate carving pumpkins and the smell of fallen leaves. As our quest for knowledge continuesContinue reading “Student Debt: Study Up Before You Sign Up”
Tag Archives: Obama
Take Down the Confederate Flag – And Raise Up Medicaid Expansion
This opinion piece by LeeAnn Hall was originally published in Huffington Post. It’s tempting, this summery week, to sit and savor the sweet victory that was handed us by the Supreme Court in late June with the King v. Burwell decision. The court’s ruling protected the health care subsidies that allow 6.4 million people toContinue reading “Take Down the Confederate Flag – And Raise Up Medicaid Expansion”
Minimum Wage Shouldn’t Force Workers to Live in Poverty
On New Year’s Day, 20 states raised their minimum wages. That leaves a lot of states that aren’t increasing the minimum wage — along with the federal government. Even some of those employees who are getting increases don’t have much to celebrate. Workers in Florida might barely notice their 12-cents-an-hour raise. And the extra 15 centsContinue reading “Minimum Wage Shouldn’t Force Workers to Live in Poverty”
Hall and Smedley in USA Today: Provide Data, Expand Medicaid to Close Racial Health Divide
On the opinion pages of USA Today, LeeAnn Hall, executive director of the Alliance for a Just Society, and Dr. Brian Smedley, with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, call on on HHS to release full data on who is enrolling – and who is being missed. They also call on states whereContinue reading “Hall and Smedley in USA Today: Provide Data, Expand Medicaid to Close Racial Health Divide”
State of the Union Has the Right Themes, Action Must Follow
President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union address Tuesday night: low-key compared to other addresses, determined and occasionally defiant. He touched on many of the priorities being worked on by the Alliance for a Just Society this year, including mentioning that nine million Americans have signed up for private health insurance orContinue reading “State of the Union Has the Right Themes, Action Must Follow”