This past month marked the 53rd anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid. On July 30th, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation establishing the Medicare and Medicaid programs guaranteeing access to health care for America’s poor, elderly and disabled. Instead of recognizing Medicaid’s role in helping lift Alabamians out of poverty, Alabama continues to hurt its…
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Alabama’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has come a good way in only three years. In 2015, a federal judge in Mobile struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional, giving way for Alabama’s same-sex couples to marry and adopt children. In 2017, Birmingham approved a city ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the…
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I almost missed out on my dream job because of $400 in medical debt. After receiving a job offer, I agreed to undergo a credit check as part of a routine background investigation. My credit report showed two debts from visits to urgent care centers. When my mom lost her job, I was unable to…
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If you were raised in an upper — or middle — class family and your parents went to college, think about what your family and school counselors told you about college growing up. You were likely told to start preparing for your college application in your junior year of high school, take advanced classes and…
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I was born and raised in a working-class family in Chickasaw, Alabama, a small shipbuilding company town just outside of the port hub of Mobile. My father dropped out of school before the ninth grade and immediately went to work as a sandblaster at a naval shipyard. My mother worked several odd jobs throughout her…
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Last week a 13-year-old boy in Trussville took his own life after battling with depression and anxiety. Jay Griffin, a seventh grader at Trussville Middle School, was transgender. Jay’s mother, Erin Georgia, said she began realizing her son was born in the wrong body half way through the sixth grade. “There was a transition from…
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