JUST IDEAS
Healthcare justice for Puerto Rico
Medicaid is a core pillar of the U.S. healthcare infrastructure that helps ensure that everyone — regardless of income — can have access to quality care. But for decades, the federal government has treated Puerto Rico unequally, covering only half the share of the cost (in comparison to a maximum of 83 percent for states). And the amount of federal funding is subject to an extremely low, arbitrary and unstable cap set by Congress. The perverse result is that one of the poorest jurisdictions in the United States is treated as one of the wealthiest states for Medicaid funding — a program specifically designed to help people and families with low incomes access quality medical care.
How to fix segregation by college major and in the workforce
Over the past three decades, segregation across groups of majors, or fields of study, between women of color and White men has increased. This segregation threatens equal opportunity and contributes to a segregated workforce — which negatively impacts wages, job security and career mobility for millions of workers, especially women and Black and Brown people. Even as topline statistics on diversity in overall enrollment improve, higher education institutions shouldn’t miss critical opportunities to ensure that women and students of color are aware of, feel welcome in, and can participate in all fields of study.
Why We Need #TamponsForAll
Price increases for basic necessities like tampons have a real cost. Period poverty—the lack of access to sanitary products due to financial constraints—is a public health crisis deserving of a coordinated response that profit-driven private corporations are neither motivated nor prepared to provide. We need resilient supply chains that can be relied on to get basic necessities into the hands of the people who need them—and that will surely require public investment and accountability for powerful corporations.
Here’s how to boost employment for people facing tough times
Eighteen months after the largest job losses in U.S. history, unemployment is still high as workers, particularly Black and Hispanic workers, continue to struggle. While some indicators suggest the economy continues to recover, that recovery is uneven and fragile. America urgently needs a solution that supports workers, employers and communities alike, without leaving anyone behind. One proven and adaptable strategy that policymakers at all levels of government can mobilize now is subsidized employment.
Opinion: It’s time to make these expanded tax credits permanent
If you have kids, check your bank account on Thursday. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll see $250 or $300 in your account with the letters “CTC” in the line item.If you have kids, check your bank account on Thursday. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll see $250 or $300 in your account with the letters “CTC” in the line item. That’s because for the first time ever, we are recognizing raising kids as essential work with a bigger Child Tax Credit (CTC) for more families, and the option to get your tax credit as a monthly check or direct deposit.
Biden can deliver historic economic progress if he stands firm on raising corporate taxes
Biden’s plan would rein in corporate power and profit and launch a new era in which the wealthy finance large-scale investment for the public good.
The stimulus shows U.S. attitudes about child poverty are changing in a big way
The old approach is being replaced by direct assistance, but more help is needed
Hutchison, Dutta-Gupta: WV needs Congress to go big on COVID relief
West Virginia families are struggling. One in seven adults in the state struggle with hunger. One in five households with children in the state reported that the kids weren’t eating enough because the family struggled to afford food.
Untangling Unemployment Assistance Benefits in 2020: A Flow Chart
GCPI, the National Employment Law Project, and the Century Foundation created a flowchart to clarify which pandemic-response or regular unemployment assistance benefits may be available to workers from late March 2020 through late December 2020 and under which circumstances.
To help communities of color, Congress must extend the $600-a-week boosted unemployment benefit until the economy recovers
An overdue reckoning is sweeping America. The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others have sparked a national conversation on police brutality and mass incarceration. As we grapple with these wounds, we must remember that structural racism damages these same communities every day without any damning videos, and without any guns drawn.
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