Blocking Access

A problem has escaped our notice for some time, and all true advocates for social justice should demand immediate rectification. It seems that employers have found a loophole which actually allows them to deny their employees access to food.

Having food is a necessity, not a perk. Without food, a human being cannot live, let alone work.

Do we want corporations having this kind of power over those they employ? 

How many people in low-income families have to decide between eating, and keeping the lights on?

Governor Hassan and Senator Shaheen believe that the recent Hobby Lobby decision allows private companies to deny women access to birth control, because now some of them will not be required to pay for it. They both said so, in fundraising emails.

If that's true, your boss also has the power to deny you food — by not providing you with food coverage. The nerve.

I've never met anyone who received food coverage as part of their employee-provided insurance. How have we ever coped?

The food industry is so big now, it's an industry. Grocery stores, farmers markets and farm stands, restaurants, food trucks, co-ops, vending machines, delivery — all of that came about because people wanted access to food, not because employers were required to provide it for their employees. We trade for our meals, dollars for doughnuts — and the shelves are stacked. 

If Governor Hassan would like to consider an actual example of people being denied access to a medical service, she can take a look at how her administration has dragged its feet implementing a state law which allows patients with terminal or debilitating conditions to legally obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Patients are needlessly suffering in this state while a cheap, safe, and effective alternative to pharmaceuticals is available for their immediate relief. They don't need marijuana insurance coverage, Gov. Hassan: They need you to get out of their way. Take a break from telling everyone how concerned you are for their healthcare — and let these people actually get some.

Members of the US Senate, and those who aspire to be (from what I've been hearing, it's an open secret that Hassan intends to run for Kelly Ayotte's Senate seat in 2016), ought to have more respect for the use of language, than to equate a lack of responsibility for someone else's decisions, to power over that person's decisions. The latter is what they wield, legally — not Hobby Lobby.