This is my second post in my series detailing politicians doing good things.  This is a story from a couple of years ago, but it is highly relevant with regards to politicians positively helping communities of people.  This story is about the plight of the Marshall Islanders.

The Marshall Islands are a chain of Islands in the Pacific Ocean.  During the late 1940’s and 1950’s at the height of the Cold War, the United States tested atomic and nuclear weapons off the coast of these Islands.  The resulting radiation that stemmed from these tests caused the Island residents to have medical conditions, such as birth defects and cancers, which continue to this day.  To compensate for the damage caused by the tests, the United States and the Marshall Islands entered a Compact of Free Association.  The U.S allowed Marshall Island residents to live and work in the  U.S without needing a visa, be allowed to serve in the U.S military, and most importantly, be eligible for Medicare and Medicaid to deal with their illnesses.

Unfortunately, under the Welfare Reform act signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, whether intentional or not, the Marshall Islanders eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare were cut off.  In the ensuing years, most Marshall Islanders could not afford to pay for their medical issues, and had to depend on Community Health Centers such as Crescent in Dubuque, Iowa to get care.

Politicians, particularly those in Hawaii, where there was a significant Marshall Island Population wrote bills to try to fix the issue, but those went nowhere.  In early 2020, there started to be stories in major publications about this issue, and that spurred efforts to fix this problem.  Over the next year, members of Congress like Tony Cardenas of California started pushing this issue, slowly getting cosponsors like Steve Womack of Arkansas (whose district had a big population of Islanders) to sign on to the bill.  The Covid-19 pandemic also helped nudge the issue along. At the end of 2020, the effort paid off as the restoration of Medicare and Medicaid for Marshall Islanders became law as part of an amendment on the annual government spending bill.

This is an example of politicians being public services, and doing something that actually helps a community of people.  There were no cable news hits, or rehearsed partisans statements.  Just good old fashion lawmaking on behalf of people.

Here are the links to two articles where you can read more about this story.  Comment below and sign up to get this delivered to your email!

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/01/26/marshall-islands-iowa-medicaid-103940

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/01/marshall-islands-health-care-453215