Good evening, friends. The White House has apparently received the election results and concluded that the real threat to the republic is someone asking follow-up questions. White House counsel Will Scharf warned incoming House Oversight chair Robert Garcia, in a letter reported today, that investigations intended to intimidate administration officials could cross into “blatant criminality.” Garcia rejected the warning. Democrats take control in January, and the administration is already arguing with the people who will be asking for the paperwork.
There is something especially revealing about treating scrutiny as an attack on the government while occupying the government. Public office comes with questions. Where did the money go? Who benefited? Who was harmed? Answering them is part of the job, however inconvenient that may be for an administration accustomed to grading its own homework.
Here on the Homefront, we are preparing for this weekend’s trip to the trampoline park for my daughter’s birthday, because apparently the appropriate reward for successfully keeping a child alive another year is to enter a building where every surface encourages her to launch herself into the air.
I also heard back from my insurance about the surgery to repair my sinuses. They said no. The estimate without insurance is $26,000, so I will go ahead and keep my broken sinuses. At that price, I would expect them to come with heated floors and a modest breakfast nook. I went looking for a way to breathe better and received a renovation estimate for the inside of my face.
My daughter got an early birthday present last night, and we let her stay up too late playing with it. This was a lovely decision made by the nighttime parents, who left the consequences for the morning parents. She was tired and cranky today, but absolutely nothing was going to keep her from dance class. She got ready and persevered. The commitment is impressive. The bedtime judgment remains a family concern.
Ezra is growing much too fast. My husband plays this game with him where he says “Ready, set, go” in this cute singsong voice and pretends to drop him, which makes Ezra laugh and laugh. Now Ezra says the same words in the exact same tone and throws himself down on his bed. He has learned the routine, hired himself as the performer, and requires no further assistance from management. It is unbearably adorable.
I have also concluded the investigation into my oldest son’s sudden forgetfulness regarding riding his electric scooter to school, and I was right all along: it is too cold in the morning. We have reached a transportation agreement. His dad will take him and the scooter to school, and he will ride it home. A diplomatic breakthrough, achieved without sanctions or anyone purchasing Greenland.
The plants are planted. The exterior trim is beautiful. The fairy garden is coming alive. And I have new hair. Life is trying to be good, and we are accepting what we can get. Even if my sinuses apparently require the kind of financing usually reserved for a vehicle.
That insurance denial does make today’s healthcare news feel especially close to home. Stateline reports that some conservative states are expanding access to short-term insurance plans as people struggle with the cost of comprehensive coverage. A Georgetown secret shopper study found brokers using misleading or inaccurate information while steering consumers toward limited plans.
These policies can have lower premiums because they can leave much more of the risk with the patient. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners explains that they may exclude preexisting conditions, need not cover essential benefits such as maternity care, prescriptions, and mental healthcare, and can impose annual or lifetime benefit limits.
My insurance denial didn’t involve one of these plans, but it does go to show that an insurance card and access to care can be two very different things, and policymakers ought to be judged on whether people actually receive treatment. A cheaper monthly bill is a poor consolation when the medical bill arrives and the coverage disappears into the fine print.
There’s another healthcare announcement worth looking past the headline. On Monday, federal officials announced $10 billion in rural health grants across all 50 states, the second annual installment of a five-year, $50 billion program. That money can support useful work, including staffing, maternal health, and access to care.
But KFF estimates that the same spending law cuts federal Medicaid spending in rural areas by about $137 billion over ten years. The grant program provides $50 billion over five years, while many of the Medicaid cuts continue beyond it. Those are different timelines, and the grants don’t fully replace the projected losses. KFF also notes that the money is not simply an unrestricted fund to keep struggling hospitals operating.
For those of us in rural communities, the consequences have very ordinary names: the appointment you can’t get, the longer drive, the missed work, the question of who will watch the children while you travel for care. I want these grants to help. I also want the next Congress to examine the damage they’re being asked to cushion. A ribbon-cutting photograph won’t tell us whether a community still has a doctor five years from now.
And while we debate what care people can afford, we are approaching another deeply troubling public-health milestone: the United States could lose its measles elimination status as soon as early next week. Reuters reports that the Pan American Health Organization’s expert panel is meeting through November 13, with a public determination expected early the following week. The decision hasn’t yet been announced.
The United States has held elimination status since 2000. That designation doesn’t mean there can never be another case or contained outbreak. It means sustained domestic transmission has been interrupted. PAHO defines reestablished endemic transmission as uninterrupted circulation of the same virus genotype and lineage for at least 12 months. This review will assess whether that’s happened; it’s not a new one-week deadline to contain the disease.
The CDC’s latest national update reports 5,182 confirmed cases through November 5. Behind that number are families, missed school, frightened parents, and public-health workers trying to contain a disease we spent decades bringing under control. If elimination status is lost, the label will be acknowledging a failure that has already unfolded. We should be asking what resources, vaccination efforts, and political leadership will prevent more families from paying the price.
Meanwhile, at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya today, UN climate chief Simon Stiell connected fossil-fuel dependence and climate disasters with inflation, household bills, and economic instability. He argued that clean energy and investment in resilience can help protect people from those pressures.
That belongs in the affordability conversation. Families don’t have a separate imaginary wallet for climate costs. The money comes out of the same budget that buys groceries, heats the house, and pays for healthcare. We should ask climate policy to deliver practical improvements people can feel, and ask politicians promising lower costs how their energy decisions will help households withstand the next disruption.
And today is Veterans Day. To everyone who has served, and to the families who have carried so much alongside them: thank you.
A recent account from the VA’s homelessness specialists offers a reminder of what support requires after the ceremonies end. Some veterans experiencing homelessness are working, but their pay can’t cover the cost of housing. Without a secure place to live, even following a treatment plan can become difficult: medications may need refrigeration, meals, supplies, or reliable transportation to appointments.
There are people doing that work every day, connecting veterans with housing, providing healthcare, bringing mobile services to communities, and helping someone get to an appointment. Their work deserves resources and attention long after November 11.
We can honor service by making it easier for someone to come home and remain safely housed, fed, and cared for. We can demand that the institutions making promises answer for whether they keep them. That’s what I want from this next chapter: answers, care people can afford to use, and enough room for an ordinary life. A child getting to dance class. A veteran settling into a home. A family planting something that will still be growing next spring.
Life is trying to be good. We ought to have a government willing to help.
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Shanley, can you appeal the denial from your insurance company? I hope your doctor can provide the medical necessity reasons that someone can understand and approve. Happy Birthday to your daughter!
This is a classic Mafia tactic ... attack the judge before the trial. It's also known as "working the refs". Trump has NEVER permitted anyone to hold him accountable for anything. Only the NYState AG has ever overcome all of Trump's efforts. She is a superhero to me!