6 msfocusmagazine.org March has come and gone and with it another government shutdown has been averted.Thepresidentsignedyetanothershort- term funding bill. With a troubled Congress and an unpredictable administration, the nation’s interests are betterserved avoiding the consequences of a shutdown of any duration. While the bill covers only six months, this funding period is longer than some of the others in recent memory. It’s up to you to decide if this merits a deep sigh of relief. Regardless, this is no way to run a business – or a government, for that matter. As with previous funding bills, there have always been winners and losers. Generally speaking, healthcare could have fared a lot worse than what was in this bill. However, among the drawbacks of this funding measure were the government’s failure to stabilize the Obamacaremarketplaceandreinstatefinancial support programs to help those with high medical bills. This has certainly gotten the attention of the MS community. According to polls, healthcare remains a top source of concern among Americans. Unfortunately, the cost of adequate healthcare coverage continues to escalate each year, in large part because of cuts to government-led programs, the costs of providing care in general, as well as the needs of our aging population and those with chronic diseases – such as MS. The majority of Americans obtain coverage through their workplace and for too many, their annually escalating insurance premiums offset most or all of their earnings increase. Add annual increases to the cost of living and it’s easy to understand why many feel they are on an economic treadmill or, in many cases, losing financial ground. For several decades, any discussion of government-sponsored health coverage was quashed by being labeled as socialism, communism, or fascism. In essence, government-sponsored health coverage was viewed by industry and afterward the general public as a threat to our democracy. Some of you will recall those labels applied to Medicare before it was passed into law. Employer-sponsored group insurance came about partially as a means of suppressing interest in government-led programs. Jules Kuperberg Co-Executive Director Alan R. Segaloff Co-Executive Director Is There a Lesson to be Learned From Our Young People?