I always knew that yesterday was going to be quite a busy day and so it proved to be. I awoke at 6.00am and got up, fairly promptly, because I knew that at 8.30a I was due to receive a routine monitoring call from a hospital clinic.I even got two reminders about this by ex, one of them in the evening before. Then I am scheduled to take my Droitwich friend to a clinic in Solihull where she is due to have a procedure conducted upon a nerve in her neck and this is going to occupy some of my own activities during the day.
It is evident that American politics have been absorbing a lot of my attention these days. It is now a year since Trump was elected and he has been celebrating with a crowd of the glitzy and we would say ‘well-eeed’ in Miami, Florida. Here, investors and the already wealthy still adore Trump who they feel is delivering to them the kind of largesse that they do not really need but are gratefully lapping it up. But America is an incredibly divided society and there are millions of Americans enduring the most incredible hardships at the moment. With the government effectively shut down at the moment, several government aid programmes are effectively suspended, The most important of these is called SNAP Established in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , also known as food stamps, is the United States’ largest anti-hunger program, helping an average of 41.7 million —or 1 in 8—Americans per month. In the absence of anything approaching an NHS, the USA citizenry rely upon MedicAid which is not shut down because it is funded differently from other government operations, and there is enough funding for it through the end of the calendar year. However, a government shutdown could lead to delays in processing claims and reduced staffing for functions like eligibility verification, potentially making it harder for some people to access healthcare services. If a shutdown were to continue beyond the end of the year, states might need to use their own funds to keep the program running. But the greatest impact on poor Americans will be felt in the Affordable Care Act where health insurance premiums on the marketplace are projected to rise significantly due to expiring tax credits. Without these subsidies, monthly costs could double on average, with some individuals facing an increase of over $1,000 per year. This is causing concern among families who have come to rely on these subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year. This is the Act which requires Congressional approval in order to receive federal funding and is one of the reasons why the Republicans, in particular want the Congress to remain closed so that any legislation to extend the Affordable Care Act can be passed. So we have a situation in the USA at the moment where some Americans are getting wealthier by the day, particularly the large corporations whilst many more millions of Americans are literally starving and not knowing where their next meal comes from. All of this is the backdrop to the success that the Democratic Party received in the recent polls where the Party is getting poised to fight the mid-term elections in a year’s time which could alter the composition of the Congress, potentially wiping out the Republican majorities in the House of Representatives (analogous to our House of Commons) The framers of the American constitution in the 18th century tried to devise a system where there was a balance of powers. But they did not really envisage a situation in which both Houses of Congress and the Presidency and the Supreme Court were all controlled by one party, assisted by an overwhelmingly right wing media which is, of course, a recent phenomenon.
In the morning, I called in at a local supermarket to use their ATM and pick up a copy of my newspaper. Then I made my way to Droitwich to pick um my friend and take her to the private clinic in Solihull where she is due to have a procedure on a painful nerve in her neck. Both the procedure itself and its aftermath are liable to be pretty painful so my friend and I have a plan of action to help her to recover. She will stop for a couple of days or so to get over the immediate trauma f the operation and in the bedroom which she will occupy I already have my spare electric blanket pressed into us and also have available a neck-shaped hot water bottle (shaped like a question mark or ?) which fortuitously I found in a. charity shop. I had planned to stay in Solihull and do some shopping in the John Lewis and the Robert Dyas stores but when we both realised that our friend might not be ready for discharge from the hospital until 6 in the afternoon, we had a rapid change of plan and I decided to come home. As she will not have eaten all day, when I returned from Bromsgrove I bought some readily consumed comestibles for my friend in case she is starving hungry and, whilst I was at it, bought quite a lot of extra things that I think we both might enjoy in the meals that I will prepare in the next day or so. Then I got another message that my friend might be allowed to go home at 5.00pm so another change of plan was agreed that I arrive at the hospital half an hour early so that she could be whisked home without delay. Having looked after Meg for 30 years, I am sure that looking after my friend post operatively should provide no problems assuming no complications but we need to check that there are no wounds that need dressing or attention over the weekend. At least I know the District Nurses are at hand in case of emergency. I have a film lined up to watch on YouTube ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ which I shall enjoy watching for about the third or fourth time but my friend still has that treat in store. If the film fails to entertain I know that a lot of interesting and accessible music is available should the need arise for something more calming.