THIS IS MY STORY: I am a recently medically retired Family Nurse Practitioner with a near 30-year career working with my hometown's community and other tribal hospital organizations. Had I not worked with the indigenous populations of America I would have been serving the veterans or military. My work is for the underserved populations of our nation. The affordable and socially responsible healthcare debate has been breaking my heart for years. It is apparent to me that Americans cannot reach a consensus on this issue. Some of the very valid reasons are that we don’t want our choices limited and we don’t want the government deciding what healthcare provider we can see or how much we will be taxed for the Medicare for All type plan. Because my health insurance dropped me due to my lost employment, I had to seek out an alternative. I did an online search for low-cost clinics in the Tucson, AZ area and found one that is trying a membership or cooperative type business model to provide services to people like me. I compared what it has been costing me to have my healthcare needs addressed by a poorly run family clinic organization. My insurance copay was $20/visit to my primary care provider and for a specialist, it was $40/visit. My last visit to a specialist ended up costing me more because they wanted a chest x-ray that would cost me $1000 and I was attempting physical therapy at $50/visit for awhile too. The list of medical expenses goes on to include medication prices that were ridiculous for an uninsured person to try to meet. Enter my first visit to the membership driven clinic and my new medical home. I have received astoundingly better healthcare that is specific to my needs for much, much less than paying insurance or taxes. For my demographic, I pay $75/month for unlimited access to my provider. I can call, text, email and so on. My provider listened to my history and worked with me to come up with a plan that fit me as an individual. She respects my opinion as a nursing professional which is something I didn’t have at my previous clinic. She ordered the chest x-ray that ended up costing me only $35. My medications? Wholesale prices. I get the medications I need for pennies on the dollar. Now, imagine what we could do with this type of business plan across America and for more than a family practice clinic. As healthcare consumers, we should be using our power to drive the insurance companies and government out of our healthcare. In a nonprofit system, we would have more choices, more affordability, more mobility, better patient/provider interactions, beliefs preserving (for the pro-life/pro-choice populations) and more. There is so much more we could be doing for people using this valid system that has been under funded, under promoted and largely ignored. You can look at the information provided in this link from the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care and look through the resources for some good information. http://nonprofithealthcare.org/ You can also go to the discussion group I've created on Facebook to see what else I have found. https://www.facebook.com/groups/278503785960711/ The infrastructure exists. The laws need to change in order to bolster the systems and remove for profit industry from holding sway over our nation's health and economic and national security. This is what I want to discuss. This is something that is working for me and I want to share it with others so that we might find some decent leverage with the corporations and government. Thanks for reading! Karen McLane FNP-BC Retired

ACA for all, or ACA for none. It's that simple. While Congress is trying to strip taxpayers of Medicaid, it's only fair to strip them of their health care. We get ACA. They get ACA. We don't get affordable care. They don't deserve affordable care.

Voter registration databases (VRDB) are rich targets and may be an attractive target for computer intrusions. This problem is not unique to individual states—it is shared across the nation. Voter Registration Databases (VRDBs) present a unique target for cyber threat actors. It is vital that the Florida Secretary of State take precautions to defend VRDBs against cyber intrusion.

Members of Congress have the their own health care plan supplemented by taxpayers. Maybe if they and their families have to be on the same plan as their voters, they will think twice about their vote.

Tell the government you will not stand for discrimination of our transgender military personnel.

Trump is a disaster. Republican control of both houses of Congress is a disaster. Trump and his supporters are attacking Senators Collins and Murkowski for their health care votes. Both would do well as Independents or Democrats. It would make the Senate a 50/50 split.

As someone with pre-existing, life threatening conditions. Affordable health care for all is important to me. Those in government that want to repeal/replace the ACA have had plenty of time to craft legislation that is better than the ACA, yet they have done nothing. No plan at all other than to repeal. It's time they struggle to pay their health care bills just like I, and the majority of Americans do.

I am one of thousands of transgender troops and veterans who, unlike Trump, have willingly volunteered to defend this nation. Trump has no right to dishonor our service. This is particularly shameful because Trump seems to have made these statements without consulting the Pentagon or other military leadership. His tweets are already creating chaos and uncertainty among the ranks, and for people seeking to join the military. Secretary Mattis can reassure our troops - and our country - by denouncing these statements, and sending a clear message that hate is not a military value.

I am a teacher and have seen how experiences in nature have changed children's lives. I also know that failing to protect swaths of natural lands will compromise all of our lives on this planet.

Hank Williams, Jr used his previous platform as the show opener for Monday Night Football as a spring board for appearing all over the country denouncing human rights and racial equality issues. He was particularly insulting to President Obama, likening him to Hitler. It has been announced that ESPN is planning to bring him back to the program although he has never retreated from his bigoted commentary. We should demand that for the good of our country, as it tries to heal, he should not be returned to the public airways.

The era of slavery and Jim Crow is over!

After Trump's speech to the Boy Scouts this week, the organization has some serious questions to ask itself. One of them is what role will it have in the harm being caused by some of the agencies under Trump's leadership. The Department of Homeland Security has announced that any undocumented person in the United States is a target for deportation - whether they are a parent, child, teen, student, or worker - that includes some who are scouts. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have begun to speak out about a culture of hostility and discrimination inside the agency. In various years though, the Boy Scouts have participated in an "explorers" program led by the agency. Trump's speech was enough propaganda to expose our youth to, ask the Scouts to cut any partnership with his deportation force as well.