Women & College Degrees, Health Insurance

by The Current October 9th, 2022October 8th, 2022

Sunday Solutions – Oct. 9, 2022

Strong voices and the advantages of a healthy community are in today’s topics to check out. We’ve also compiled a few stories and data that raise questions on the definition of success for long-fought challenges.

First things first

If you or a friend isn’t yet registered to vote, you’re on deadline. Tuesday is the final day to register to vote in the November General Election. If you or someone you know is fed up with how things are going, voting lets your voice be heard. So check your registration, make your registration or order your absentee ballot. Now.

Women & work: A step forward, steps back

So if you think you may be working around more women than ever, you’d be right. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, women account for more than half of the college-educated workforce in the US for the first time ever. The switch happened in late 2019 and persisted through the pandemic. However, women without a college degree were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, leaving what is likely to be gender and experience gaps for many jobs in the future. Check out the data and analysis.

Considerable

A few items of note this week in your search for solutions:

Contagion can be good: With a strong community support system, good health can be catching. Here’s a graphic breakdown of research from Yes! and the Solutions Journalism Network to show how it works. Want to be contagious? Check out Healthy Savannah’s Facebook page each Monday to see where to meet for a group walk and meet new friends every Tuesday.
Civics education: The New York Public Library system has a new list of books that help students, teachers, and parents give context to civics education.
Children stuck in immigration shelters: Unaccompanied immigrant children continue to be put in shelters and it’s tough for them to get out. ProPublica reports that more than 9,000 children remain in custody. The system’s reporting for behavior makes it hard to find a foster or family home at all, even when they are clearly just trying to cope with their situation. This Q&A story talks to administrators who are trying to change the structure so children can find places outside a holding cell.

More health insurance, less care?

Here’s the good news: A new study by the Commonwealth Fund finds that more Americans have health insurance than ever.

Here’s the bad news: It also found that 40% of them are underinsured because of the continued upward spiral of health care costs. People choose high deductible plans or decide to limit the scope of coverage to save money, leaving them vulnerable to unanticipated problems that leave long-term debt. The survey found 61% of those considered underinsured and 71% of those who were uninsured for any part of the year failed to get needed medical care because of cost. Fewer than a third of those with adequate insurance for the full year failed to do so. People with chronic conditions skipped treatments. And all of those factors track to higher medical costs in the future. Here’s the story with reasons why more people are insured and why more people are incurring higher costs and some possible remedies for it all.

Loretta Lynn 2020 by Anna Hanks from Austin, Texas, USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Your second cup: A voice of change

If you are lucky enough to have heard country music legend Loretta Lynn in concert, you’ll already appreciate this week’s entry. If you are in touch with today’s issues surrounding women and empowerment, you’ll find a timely discussion. Lynn died last week at age 90. You don’t have to be older to have heard her work — her last album was released last year and was a collaboration with Reba McEntire and Carrie Underwood. However, it’s fair to say that younger readers may not appreciate the life, lyrics and lessons in Lynn’s work, and others may not side with her politics — but she brought her life to the forefront to make change. This story from The Conversation looks at her ability to give marginalized women a voice and power for today’s world through her songs. And yes, there’s a Spotify list attached to acquaint or reacquaint you with the songs that were banned on many radio stations for their honesty, including “The Pill.” Put on your headphones, or just turn up the sound.

Enjoy.

The Current GA’s office at Coastal Heritage Society.

You’re invited: Current Conversations

We’ve rescheduled our hurricane-delayed October edition of Current Conversations for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, in the outside courtyard at our office rail car at 303 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., behind the Savannah Visitor Center. We’ll gather this month to talk about disinformation and election campaigns. We’ll talk about how to evaluate information and sources so you can make your most informed decisions. Click here to register so we’ll know how many to expect – the event is free and open to all.