So, the federal government has shut down. This shutdown is the one bit of leverage Democrats have against the extremely unpopular budget bill forced through by Republicans earlier this year. Democrats are demanding that some of the most draconian cuts to health funding be restored. As shown in the KFF poll above, a remarkable 78% of the public, including 57% of MAGA supporters, want the ACA support to continue.

Here's how much premiums will rise for ACA coverage in Michigan if Democrats are not successful:

Democrats are also demanding a reversal of cuts to Medicaid, which are cynically scheduled to start after the 2026 mid-term elections.

Meanwhile, our representative, Jack Bergman, is promoting the false claim that the argument is about medical coverage for "illegals." In fact, the republican budget bill strips protection from legal immigrants and citizens, alike (National Immigration Law Center). Meanwhile, federal government web pages and emails about the shutdown are becoming blatantly partisan in clear violation of the Hatch Act. A government that works only for the party that won the last election is not a democracy.

The abysmal state of America's health care "system"

The abysmal state of America's health care "system" underlies much of our current malaise. My dictionary defines system as "a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network," which hardy describes U.S. health care. Indeed, it seems more like a mismatched assortment of businesses and parasites competing to extract maximum profits from citizens, government (your taxes), and health care workers alike.

The United States has the worst health care "system" in the developed world (and worse than much of the less-developed world, as well–see e.g. Costa Rica). And the Republican Big Budget Bomb is making it worse:

This law cut more than $1 trillion in health spending. That level of health care cuts is unprecedented—it is the biggest cut to our social safety net in history. Dr. L. Fowler

Here are some impacts of not having a coherent health care system in the US:

Higher costs for worse outcomes

Employment impacts

• People are not free to change jobs when their medical insurance is tied to their employer ("job lock").
• Large employees can provide more affordable insurance than small ones. Skewed insurance costs and options means that employers are not equally free to hire the best people for the job.
• People are less free to move because insurance, treatment, or health services are not equitably available across the country.
  • The cost of employer-based health insurance varies widely by state and industry.
• Entrepreneurship suffers when health insurance is tied to a company job.

Financial, Time, and Stress Costs

• Medical Debt degrades credit scores, even for people with medical insurance. Abut 60% of the population is worried about not being able to pay for medical care.
  • A Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) rule that was supposed to remove medical debt from credit reports has been blocked.
  • Michigan is among the states with weak protections for wage garnishment for medical debt.
• Everyone is constrained by paperwork and time-consuming research to find and understand insurance options, medical services and bills.
  • Leading to stress. And a spiral of stress-related health problems, cycling because of inadequate access to mental health support.
• Delays, denials of services, and prior authorization afflict a majority of people seeking health care.

Societal

• Young adults aged 19-25 are most likely to lack health insurance.
• Downward spirals that lead to violence may not be flagged before catastrophic events such as mass shootings.
  • Lack of adequate mental health care for veterans has been highlighted in recent shootings.
  • Vulnerable teenagers and young adults may lack access to mental health care just when they most need it.
• People who encounter surprise bills, denied coverage, delayed treatment, and horrible interactions with insurance companies develop mistrust of the entire medical system. After a call to an insurance line about denied coverage, it's no wonder people feel the medical-industrial complex doesn't have their best interests at heart. And that mistrust spills onto our underfunded, underappreciated public health system.
• Mistrust drives people to "alternative" (quack) profiteers, who fan conspiracy theories for their own benefit. Tylenol does not cause autism, but RFK Jr.'s proposed autism "treatment", leucovorin (folinic acid) is sold at a huge profit by quack supplement purveyors, like Mehmet Oz.
• In 2021 US had the highest rate of drug use deaths in the world, 19 per 100,000 people. How many deaths result from lack of access to treatment?

Privatization

• Private companies are taking over Medicare, with over 50% of seniors now enrolled n Medicare Advantage plans run by insurance companies.
  • "In 2025, payments [for Medicare Advantage plans] are 20% more per person, which translates into an additional $84 billion in federal spending this year" KFF
  • Insurance agencies make billions by defrauding Medicare Advantage plans.
• Private hospitals reduce access to medical treatment and result in worse health outcomes, especially for low-income people with Medicaid.
• "On May 12, 2025, the administration announced that it will not enforce Biden-era mental health parity regulations that strengthened requirements for insurers to provide equivalent coverage for mental and physical health conditions." APA
• For-profit companies are buying psychiatric facilities and providing sub-standard care with few consequences.
• A for-profit company made millions from Georgia's failed Medicaid work-requirement program (soon to be expanded across the country).
• Dental “insurance“ is not insurance, it's a discount program (scam). "Most patients assume dental insurance works like health insurance, which is designed to protect against high, unexpected costs. Dental insurance, however, works more like a “discount plan,” or coupon, rather than true insurance." Dr. Zachary Brian. NYT

And a small personal experience

Why does a hospital need to contract with "A Proven Revenue Cycle Management Partner"? I was contacted repeatedly by this entity "at the request" of Aspirus because they didn't have my correct insurance information after an appointment. Do other countries' health system ecosystems pay for "Proven Revenue Cycle Management Partners"? How much of our national health spending is siphoned into these kinds of companies?

Solutions

I don't have "the" solution to this health care morass. There is no question that it's an issue that frustrates votes across political divides. So, the first response is to talk about it and help people understand who is proposing solutions and who is grifting for billionaire insurance executives and supplement scammers.

We win with positive solutions to real-world problems.

Promote this event (bring your maga friends): October 15, 7 pm. Town Hall: Health Care for All. Orpheum Theater.

Protests

NO KINGS 2.0: The Copper Country Speaks Out!

NO KINGS rally

October 18, 2025, 12 – 2pm EDT. Bridgeview Park, Quincy Street & East Lakeshore Drive, Houghton.

NO KINGS Motor March

NO KINGS Houghton MotorMarch · Mobilize

The Houghton MotorMarch will be held in conjunction with the rally at the Bridgeview Park area in Houghton, from noon to 2:00 or later. Both events are sponsored by Keweenaw Indivisible. Meet at the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship parking lot, 604 Bridge St. Houghton at 11:00 a.m. on rally day to place rally slogans on car windows using window markers. A few American flags will be available for loan. Order your own car flags if possible. Large flags are encouraged. MotorMarch vehicles will then circulate repeatedly through downtown Houghton, across the bridge and through downtown Hancock. Rally vehicles should simply blend with the traffic and not attempt to form a “train.” **In America, we don’t put up with would-be kings.** Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger and stronger. “NO KINGS” is more than just a slogan—it’s the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, carried by millions in chants and on posters, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together. The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings, and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty. Grow our movement and join us. _A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events. Weapons of any kind, including those legally permitted, should not be brought to events._

Mobilize

📎 Paper Clip Protest 📎

It's a thing! Wear a paper clip, cheap, easy, recognizable. Know your tribe. Inspired by the Norwegian resistance during WWII. Promoted by Ollie and Janice Pedersen, and E. Jean Carroll, and recently amplified by Joyce Vance.

Reminder: Michigan Statewide Petitions

At least SIX petitions are being circulated for proposals to go on the 2026 ballot. Bridge Michigan has a good summary; others may be added. Check local farmers' markets for petition collectors.

• YES (if you are eligible.):
• Ranked Choice Voting (RankMiVote) petitions. (contact Joan Chadde to sign)
• Invest in MI Kids to fund schools by taxing millionaires.
• Michiganders for money out of politics (MMOP) to restrict political donations by regulated utilities.
  • contact agerard@miunited.org to sign these.
• NO! Decline to Sign. Watch out for the anti-voter rights petitions that seek to add repressive "proof of citizenship" language to the Michigan constitution:
  • Americans for Citizen Voting- DO NOT SIGN
  • Committee to Protect Voters Rights - DO NOT SIGN
  • AxMITax, The AxMITax proposal seeks to eliminate all property taxes in Michigan, shift the tax burden to regressive sales tax, and make it harder to raise any other taxes in the future - DO NOT SIGN
• Important: keep track of which petitions you have signed. Do not sign the same one twice.

Upcoming Events

The CALENDAR has details, on these events and many more. Please share your events.

FLOCK cameras

are on the agenda for Hancock City Council this week:

Hancock is considering purchasing Flock license plate-reading cameras after Baraga County wisely rejected them. 404 Media found that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has access to data collected by this system. To share your view, attend the next Hancock City Council meeting, Wednesday, October 15 at 6 pm.

• October 15, 7 pm. Town Hall: Health Care for All. Orpheum Theater.
• October 18, 2025 NO KINGS 2.0. All Hands on Deck!
  • No Kings Motor March, 11-2. Register for vehicle decorating at Mobilize

When and Where to Speak UP

Check the calendar for details.

Some key upcoming meetings:

• Houghton Country (work session, jail discussions), Monday, Oct 6, 10 am.
• Michigan Tech Board of Trustees, Friday, Oct 10, 9 am. (email Sarah Schulte, hereid@mtu.edu if you wish to speak.)

Local action groups convene regularly. Some public body meets somewhere every single week; take 30 minutes to show up and express your opinion. (Sample statements.) And let me know if you go and what you learn.

Remember, this is a long process. Showing up multiple times builds trust and demonstrates to people with diverse viewpoints that you don't have horns.

Why and how to attend local meetings

Organizing Meetings

Details are on the CALENDAR. (Please send updates, check to confirm.) These groups are all very welcoming. Drop by a meeting to connect with friendly faces. Any level of engagement contributes to making our world better.

Houghton/Hancock

• Yoopers for Ukraine 🇺🇦 Rally at the bridge Wednesdays at 5 pm.
• Keweenaw Indivisible meets 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, 6-8 pm at the KUUF.
• Houghton County Dems meet every 1st Wednesday, 7 pm at the Super 8.
• 4th Wednesdays AWAVE, 6 pm. Gathering at UU Fellowship Houghton.
• 3rd Sundays, 7-8:45 pm, Keweenaw Against the Oligarchy Monthly Action Committee (KATO). Please register at the link to help with the headcount.

Baraga

• Baraga County Democrats, 3rd Tuesdays at 6 pm, L'Anse Township Hall

Marquette

• Every Tuesday evening at 7pm, Yoopers Unite, a gathering of local pro-democracy groups, at LoveMarq Church, 728 W. Kaye Ave, Marquette.
• Marquette: Every Saturday morning from 11:30-12:30, between 40 - 80 people have been assembling at the Marquette Post Office, standing in support with long-established Citizens for Peace & Justice.
• Join Lake Superior Region Indivisible

Pollinators are still busy

It looks a bit like a dragonfly but iNaturalist tells me this is an Eastern Band-winged Hoverfly.

Thanks for all your support

Stay Well

Sarah

References

How much more will ACA enrollees have to pay if the IRA subsidies expire? (updated), Charles Gaba, 08/25/2025. https://acasignups.net/ira-subsidy-expiration

How Affordable Is Job-Based Health Coverage for Workers? Kristen Kolb, et al., The Commonwealth Fund. March 13, 2025. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/how-affordable-job-based-health-coverage-workers

Roughly 6 in 10 Americans oppose Trump’s megabill, CNN poll finds, Ariel Edwards-Levy, CNN, Wed July 16, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/16/politics/trump-megabill-one-big-beautiful-bill

Fact Checking Immigrants, Health Care, and the 2025 Tax and Budget Law
Ben D’Avanzo, National Immigration Law Center, Oct 1, 2025. https://www.nilc.org/resources/fact-checking-immigrants-health-care-and-the-2025-tax-and-budget-law/

For-Profit Corporations Are Buying Up More Psychiatric Hospitals. Some Flout Federal Law With Scarce Repercussions. Eli Cahan for ProPublica, Sept. 23, 2025, https://www.propublica.org/article/psychiatric-hospitals-emtala-mental-health-profit

KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Finds Prior Authorization Process Difficult to Manage, Grace Sparks, Julian Montalvo III, Shannon Schumacher, Ashley Kirzinger, and Liz Hamel, KFF, Jul 25, 2025. https://www.kff.org/patient-consumer-protections/kff-health-tracking-poll-public-finds-prior-authorization-process-difficult-to-manage/

Medicare Advantage in 2025: Enrollment Update and Key Trends, Nancy Ochieng, Meredith Freed, Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, Anthony Damico, and Tricia Neuman, KFF, Jul 28, 2025. https://www.kff.org/medicare/medicare-advantage-enrollment-update-and-key-trends/

1 in 6 U.S. Workers Stay in Unwanted Job for Health Benefits. Dan Witters, Wellbeing, May 6, 2021. https://news.gallup.com/poll/349094/workers-stay-unwanted-job-health-benefits.aspx

How Tying Health Care to Jobs Hurts the Free Market, Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani, Jul 21, 2025. https://www.withdra.com/p/how-tying-health-care-to-jobs-hurts

The cost of health insurance and entry into entrepreneurship. Fossen, F.M., Hossain, M., Mukhopadhyay, S. et al. , Small Bus Econ 64, 383–405 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-024-00927-x

Health Insurance Coverage for the U.S. Population, 2024 to 2034. June 18, 2024, Jessica Hale. CBO. https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-06/60040-Health.pdf

Uninsured rate of U.S. non-elderly population by age 2024, Preeti Vankar, Statista, Sep 16, 2025. https://www.statista.com/statistics/498532/rate-of-us-non-elderly-without-health-insurance-by-age/ Also, US Census data: https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/p60-284.html

New and Proposed Policies Affecting Access to Mental Health Care, July 10, 2025. APA, https://updates.apaservices.org/new-policies-affecting-access-to-mental-health-care

The Firm Running Georgia’s Struggling Medicaid Experiment Was Also Paid Millions to Sell It to the Public, Margaret Coker, Pro Publica, May 14, 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/deloitte-georgia-medicaid-work-requirement-pathways-campaign

When public hospitals go private, low-income patients lose, January 9, 2023, Krysten Crawford, Stanford Institute for Economic and Policy Research. https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/study-when-public-hospitals-go-private-low-income-patients-lose

The effect of health-care privatisation on the quality of care, Goodair, Benjamin et al., The Lancet Public Health, Volume 9, Issue 3, e199 - e206

Workers’ Wages Siphoned To Pay Medical Bills, Despite Consumer Protections. Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF, October 2, 2025. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/colorado-wage-garnishment-health-care-medical-debt-collections-medicaid/

A Complicated Maze: How Workers Navigate the US Health Care System, May 13, 2025, Emma Curchin, John Schmitt. Center for Economic and Policy Research. https://cepr.net/publications/how-workers-navigate-the-us-health-care-system/

Recent mass shootings may highlight a critical veteran mental health care shortage. Kristen L. Rouse, MSNBC. Sept. 30, 2025. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/michigan-north-carolina-shootings-veterans-mental-health-rcna234788

The Problem Isn’t Trust in Vaccines, It’s That People Don’t Know Who to Trust, Drew Altman, KFF, Aug 19, 2025. https://www.kff.org/from-drew-altman/the-problem-isnt-trust-in-vaccines-its-that-people-dont-know-who-to-trust/

KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust: Vaccine Safety and Trust,Alex Montero, Grace Sparks, Julian Montalvo III, Ashley Kirzinger, and Liz Hamel, KFF, May 6, 2025. https://www.kff.org/health-information-trust/kff-tracking-poll-on-health-information-and-trust-vaccine-safety-and-trust/

The Tylenol–Autism Pseudoscience Pipeline: How false testimony about Tylenol and autism failed in court, was repackaged as “peer-reviewed” junk science, and is now driving Trump’s dangerous medical advice. Dr. Andrea Love, Sep 23, 2025. https://news.immunologic.org/p/the-tylenolautism-pseudoscience-pipeline?triedRedirect=true

Potential fraud could have earned insurance companies billions off of Medicare Advantage. January 4, 2025, Weekend Edition Saturday, Eric Deggans. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/04/nx-s1-5246231/potential-fraud-could-have-earned-insurance-companies-billions-off-of-medicare-advantage