It was fearless, and it was fierce,” Jane Rhodes, the head of the African-American Studies department at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the author of “Mary Ann Shadd Cary: The Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century” (1999), said of the letter.
This seeming contradiction — that Shadd Cary would be viewed simultaneously as an object of respect and leadership and as an object of derision,” Rhodes wrote in the foreword of her biography, “is central to the story of the African-American woman.”
DeSantis’ budget proposal would make permanent a $98 million reduction in Medicaid spending that was backed by the Legislature last year. The cut is a result of eliminating a “retroactivity” policy in which the state has picked up health-care bills while patients prepare to enroll in the Medicaid program.
All 50 states are now completed, and I can state definitively that Florida's individual insurance market is unique across the country. Out of 435 Congressional Districts, only 32 are higher than 10%...19 of which are in Florida. Only 8 are higher than 15%...all of which are in Florida. In fact, the 11 highest-percentage districts are all in Florida.
The only reason why Floridians should be twice as likely to be on the indy market as the rest of the country (and 3x as likely in South Florida) would be due to it having a very different job market than most states--a much higher percentage of people who work as independent contractors/are self-employed or work for very small companies (say, under 25 employees) which don't provide group coverage. It also occurs to me that there could be a correlation between this and the fact that Florida Blue is actually doing just fine on the individual market, both on and off the ACA exchange.
The causes are manifold: authoritarian leadership, twisted theology, institutional protection, obliviousness about the problem and, perhaps most shocking, a diminishment of the trauma sexual abuse creates — especially surprising in a church culture that believes strongly in the sanctity of sex.
In 2004, Tchividjian founded the nonprofit organization Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which trains Christian institutions in how to prevent sexual abuse and performs independent investigations when churches face an abuse crisis. Tchividjian says sexual abuse in evangelicalism rivals the Catholic Church scandal of the early 2000s.
The sex advice columnist and LGBT rights advocate Dan Savage, tired of what he called the hypocrisy of conservatives who believe that gays molest children, compiled his own list that documents more than 100 instances of youth pastors around the country who, between 2008 and 2016, were accused of, arrested for or convicted of sexually abusing minors in a religious setting.
The problem in collecting data stems, in part, from the loose or nonexistent hierarchy in evangelicalism.
with major institutions like the Southern Baptist Convention having no authority to enforce a standard operating procedure among member churches.
He collected reports of evangelical pastors or ministers charged with a crime in order to understand how evangelical organizations respond to crisis. Over 2016 and 2017, Mullen found 192 instances of a leader from an influential church or evangelical institution being publicly charged with sexual crimes involving a minor, including rape, molestation, battery and child pornography. (This data did not include sexual crimes against an adult or crimes committed by someone other than a leader.)
The study showed that 56 percent of the 381 respondents who reported having knowledge of the school’s handling of abuse (a group that included current and former students, as well as employees) believed that BJU conveyed a “blaming and disparaging” attitude toward victims.
Franklin Graham, CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said President Trump’s “grab them by the p—y” comments and other crude language didn’t matter because “all of us are sinners.”
Why are so many evangelicals (who also devote resources to fighting sex trafficking or funding shelters for battered women) so dismissive of the women in their own pews?
Partly, church leaders tend to circle the wagons out of arrogance. “I’ve worked with churches across the theological spectrum, from fundamentalist to progressive,” Tchividjian says. “They say: ‘I’m the man God’s placed in charge. I have the Bible. I know how to handle this.’ ”
Sexual sin is talked about constantly, and extramarital sex is considered a heinous moral lapse.
In moments of crisis, Christians are forced to reconcile a cognitive dissonance: How can the church — often called “the hope of the world” in evangelical circles — also be an incubator for such evil?
“It is isolating and heartbreaking to sit in a church service where sexual abuse is being minimized,” Denhollander says. “The damage done [by abuse] is so deep and so devastating, and a survivor so desperately needs refuge and security. The question an abuse survivor is asking is ‘Am I safe?’ and ‘Do I matter?’ And when those in authority mishandle this conversation, it sends a message of no to
both questions.”
Face the sin in their midst and make the church a place that follows the biblical command to care for the powerless and victimized — or avoid the disruption and churn out another generation of silenced victims who learn, like Denhollander did, that the church isn’t safe.
Patients at the free clinics would benefit from such a system because they can’t afford health insurance. Most have at least one job and make too much to qualify for Medicaid.
Many have chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, that require ongoing primary care.
Kammeron Findley, a 38-year-old health care professional from St. Petersburg, dropped Obamacare after her $110 premium tripled in four years. On top of that, she had to pay a $6,000 deductible before many of the benefits would kick
What they didn't mention during the debate is that they are entitled to a very generous health insurance package that costs $22,000 a year — with premiums mostly covered by Florida taxpayers.
145 of them are enrolled in the taxpayer-financed State Group Health insurance plan,
The monthly cost per legislator: $180 a month for a family, or $2,160 a year, and $50 a month, or $600 a year, for individuals. That's only a fraction of the average monthly family premium paid by most Floridians — $1,347 — according to data tabulated by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on health care issues.
Some are veterans, who get health insurance from the federal government, and others retained the employer-paid insurance they had when they were elected.
"I've never been a big fan of those types of systems and entitlements that are not accessible to everybody,'' Oliva said. "It allows me to rail against the things I rail against to keep the moral high ground."
House Republican leaders don't see any correlation between their opposition to Medicaid expansion and taxpayer-subsidized coverage of their health insurance plans.
That's an employer's decision,'' said Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee and an opponent of the Senate plan. He accepts the state health insurance. "That's part of the compensation package of that portion of your benefits," he said.