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  • Finding the Right Excuse: Committing Words to Paper Because …

    Chuck Yeager in a bell helicopter

     Captain Charles E. Yeager, the Air Force pilot who was the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, sits in the cockpit of the Bell X-1 supersonic research aircraft – Department of Defense. Department of the Air Force, 1948. Wikimedia Commons

    By Joan L. Cannon

    Just reading about Chuck Yeager’s autobiography brought to mind the number of autobiographies and/or memoirs out there (what’s the difference?) and reiterates the question of why one writes these things. If you’ve lived an adventurous, unique, dangerous, miserable or talented life — of course. If you’ve attracted the public eye, gained fame, naturally people want to know all they can find out about you. If you’re the first to break the sound barrier, the best poet of your generation, the discoverer of antisepsis, of course what you’ve done will be interesting to strangers.

    Then I think of those who feel such pressure to commit words to paper that they write with some kind of compulsion to readers they don’t know. Why is it important to them to have strangers read their words?  If someone else decides to commit their deeds to history, they don’t have to worry about self-aggrandizement. The ones I wonder about with enormous sympathy are those who are compelled to write about themselves. (Recognize anyone?)

     It’s too simple to make the motivation sheer egoism; some other impetus must be there. Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer that you can provide, even if it’s not earth-shaking. Besides, we all know more about ourselves than we do about anyone else.

    I’ve lived a life that is unique in the sense that every single one, like every single snowflake, is singular, but without any outstanding characteristics. In spite of that, I want to talk about it.

    Of course, the person with whom I always did speak of it is no longer available. It’s a bit like losing part of your own hearing to lose the ear that could always be counted on to listen to what you had to say. Nothing in your own voice sounds acceptable after that. To your own ear or eye, every word is weakened by half, and I sense it would be reasonable to forget about it and try to write mystery thrillers or category romances. That way, I might even be able to make a few dollars.

    And still, in spite of everything, there’s pressure to let something loose that I might know that someone else has still to learn, or something I’ve noticed that someone else hasn’t thought of, and that might tickle the imagination or stimulate the intellect or conjure a useful memory and make someone’s else’s day a tiny bit brighter.

    It’s embarrassing to feel the itch forever to justify this impulse. The more years I get to feel it, though, the more insistent seems the impulse is for me to scratch it.

    Thank you, Senior Women Web.

    Editor’s Note: Joan’s list of some of her favorite biographies:

    Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de St.- Exupéry ; 
    This House of Dawn by Ivan Doig;
    Mark C. Taylor’s Field Notes from Elsewhere

    ©2015 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

  • Private Pensions: Participants Need Better Information When Offered Lump Sums That Replace Their Lifetime Benefits

    Dickensdream 

     Dickens’ Dream”, unfinished painting by Robert W. Buss, circa 1874 

     

    “I lay very great stress upon that honourable characteristic of the charity, because the main principle of any such institution should be to help those who help themselves. That the Society`s pensioners do not become such so long as they are able to support themselves, is evinced by the significant fact that the average age of those now upon the list is seventy-seven; that they are not wasteful is proved by the fact that the whole sum expended on their relief is but 500 pounds a-year; that the Institution does not restrict itself to any narrow confines, is shown by the circumstance, that the pensioners come from all parts of England, whilst all the expenses are paid from the annual income and interest on stock, and therefore are not disproportionate to its means.“

    Editor’s Note: The above is from a speech given by Charles Dickens in London, in the year of 1852. It was in honor of  The Ninth Anniversary Dinner of the Gardeners’ Benevolent Institution; Dickens, Charles. “Speeches: Literary and Social.” Great Literature Online. 1997-2015

    What GAO Found

    Little public data are available to assess the extent to which sponsors of defined benefit plans are offering participants immediate lump sums to replace their lifetime annuities, but certain laws and regulations provide incentives for use of this practice. Although the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has primary responsibility for overseeing pension sponsors’ reporting requirements, it does not require sponsors to report such lump sum offers, making oversight difficult. Pension experts generally agree that there has been a recent increase in these types of offers. By reviewing the limited public information that is available, GAO identified 22 plan sponsors who had offered lump sum windows in 2012, involving approximately 498,000 participants and resulting in lump sum payouts totaling more than $9.25 billion. Most of these payouts went to participants who had separated from employment and were not yet retired, but some went to retirees already receiving pension benefits. Sponsors are currently afforded enhanced financial incentives to make these offers by certain laws and regulations issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (specifically the Internal Revenue Service) governing the interest rates and mortality tables used to calculate lump sums.

    Participants potentially face a reduction in their retirement assets when they accept a lump sum offer. The amount of the lump sum payment may be less than what it would cost in the retail market to replace the plan’s benefit because the mortality and interest rates used by retail market insurers are different from the rates used by sponsors, particularly when calculating lump sums for younger participants and women. Participants who assume management of their lump sum payment gain control of their assets but also face potential investment challenges. In addition, some participants may not continue to save their lump sum payment for retirement but instead may spend some or all of it.

  • Two From PEM: Discovering the Furniture of Nathaniel Gould and Audacious, The Fine Art of Wood

    Chest of Drawers, 1758-66, attributed to Nathaniel Gould. Marblehead Historical Society and Museum,  Jeremiah Lee Mansion Marblehead. © 2014 Peabody Essex Museum. Dennis Helmar Photography.

     

    Gould

    IN PLAIN SIGHT: DISCOVERING THE FURNITURE OF NATHANIEL GOULD
    ON VIEW NOVEMBER 15, 2014 – MARCH 29, 2015

    At the dawn of the American Revolution in a city bustling with trade, politics and commerce, a craftsman of unusual ability was working tirelessly to create fine furniture for his wealthy patrons. Nathaniel Gould (1734-1781) established one of the region’s most sought-after workshops, producing thousands of technically sophisticated and aesthetically refined works for clients at home and for export. With an astute business sense, Gould thrived in one of the most tumultuous political and economic eras in American history. Despite all of this, until recently, Gould’s life and legacy was largely unknown. Masterworks sat in anonymity in the halls of major museum collections, unsigned by their maker and identified only vaguely by their geographic origin. In 2006, everything changed.

    In the vaults of the Massachusetts Historical Society, among the records of Gould’s estate lawyer, researchers discovered documents that cast fresh light on  American furniture history. Three of Gould’s bound ledgers kept between 1758 and 1783 document in detail the production of almost 3,000 pieces of furniture in his Salem workshop. Analysis has revealed the identity, preferences and transactions of more than 500 of Gould’s patrons as well as the names of his journeymen and probable apprentices. 

    Copeland Collection

    In Plain Sight: Discovering the Furniture of Nathaniel Gould — on view through March 29, 2015 — is the first exhibition to definitively unpack this discovery and describe the signature characteristics of Gould’s work. In Plain Sight also invites exploration into the life, times and social mores of early America through the lens of one of the country’s earliest and most successful woodworkers. Stately desks, bombé chests and scalloped-top tea tables made of the finest imported mahogany are presented alongside paintings, archival materials, decorative arts and an interactive workbench and desk provide insight into the makers and consumers of 18th-century American design and culture. The exhibition is accompanied by an exquisite publication of photographs and detailed essays from PEM curators and principal researchers Kemble Widmer, Joyce King and Betsy Widmer.

    The Copeland Collection: Japanese and Chinese Figures

  • Beyond the Five Now Sanctioning Aid-In-Dying, More States Consider ‘Death With Dignity’ Laws

    Brittany and husbandBy Michael Ollove, Stateline

    After he decided to hasten his death, Erwin Byrnes, who had advanced Parkinson’s disease, set about planning all the details of the memorial service that would follow.

    Brittany Maynard and husband Dan Diaz at their wedding. She had an incurable brain cancer and ingested a lethal medication to end her life, drawing attention to the aid-in-dying issue. PRNewsFoto /Compassion & Choices

    He designated the nearby DoubleTree Hotel in Missoula, Montana, as the venue. He asked his old friend Gene to serve as master of ceremonies. He selected the entire menu — shrimp, sandwiches, beer and the hotel’s oatmeal cookies with chocolate and walnuts that he relished. He selected music that would soothe his mourners, including the Frank Sinatra tune September Song and Louis Armstrong’s classic It’s a Wonderful World.

    It came off just as the former high school principal had wished — just as his death had five days earlier on St. Patrick’s Day last year. Byrnes, later described by his wife as “a good Irishman,” had selected that day as most suitable for his departure from this world. On that morning, with his family surrounding him, he squeezed a valve on a tube leading to his body, sending a fatal barbiturate his physician had legally prescribed coursing into his bloodstream.

    “It was a beautiful way to be able to end his life,” said Erwin’s wife of nearly 64 years. “In peace and in control and with dignity.”

    It happened only because of a Montana Supreme Court decision in 2009 that has put the state in company with four others that allow assisted suicide or, as proponents prefer, ‘death with dignity’ or ‘medical aid-in-dying.’ The states permit physicians to prescribe lethal medications for terminally ill patients, who then self-administer the medications.

    Medical aid-in-dying has been approved through a variety of routes. Oregon (the first state where it became legal in 1997) and the state of Washington passed ballot measures. Vermont’s legislature adopted a law. And in New Mexico, as in Montana, it was allowed by the courts. A New Mexico district court judge ruled in January that medically assisted suicide was legal. The state attorney general has appealed the case to the state Court of Appeals and a ruling is expected in a few months.

    (Voters in Massachusetts narrowly voted down a medical aid-in-dying initiative in a 2012 referendum.)

    Oregon reports  that since 1997, lethal medications were written for 1,327 patients of whom 859 died from using those prescriptions.  In Washington state from 2009 through 2013, lethal prescriptions were given to 547 patients, of whom 359 died from ingestion.

  • Elaine Soloway’s Rookie Widow Series: Homeward Bound, A Swell Party and Body Type

     Homeward Bound

    Homeward Bound

    The first thing I saw was an American flag flying from a pole attached to the roof of the porch. My heart lifted. It wasn’t patriotism that buoyed my spirits, but a sign that the new owners of our old house had changed its appearance.

    I had dreaded returning to the place where Tommy and I, and our golden retriever Buddy, had lived for 13 years. Because my departure wasn’t spurred by happy events, but by my husband’s death in 2012, this visit was stained with sadness.

    When I first received the invitation to share the graduation celebration for a neighbor’s children, I told my daughter, “I don’t think I can go. The party house is right across from ours. It will be too painful.”

    As I spoke those words I envisioned our blue-trimmed house with porch steps that needed painting, the flowerpots that Tommy hung each summer, and the decorative bench that sat along one side. 

    I conjured images of Buddy and I seated on the top step. When my picture included my husband on his red Schwinn rounding the corner heading towards our house, I couldn’t stop the tears.

    “Do you have to go?” my daughter asked. “I’m sure they’ll understand.”

    “I love the graduates and I believe they’d like me to be there,” I said. “Maybe I have to think of them instead of me.”

    On the day of the graduation party, I rode the familiar Blue Line train to my stop. The cars were filled with passengers and luggage on the way to the final destination of O’Hare Airport. Going home, I thought to myself. These travelers were likely looking forward to their return, while I was worried about my reaction.

    I could have walked on the opposite side of the street, but was drawn towards my old house, where the sight of the flag eased my passage. When I arrived at my address, a large black dog raced down the steps to greet me. “Sorry,” said someone on the porch as he tried to move the dog that was now happily being petted.

    “No, it’s okay,” I said. “I love dogs. This used to be my house.”

    He reached out a hand. “Hi, I’m a brother-in-law, let me get the owners.”

    When he went inside to retrieve them, I introduced myself to people sitting on the porch. My apprehension was evaporating as I witnessed how much this beloved spot was being appreciated by others.

    A couple, likely in their 40s, were exuberant in their greetings. “We’ve heard so much about you from the neighbors.  We’re happy to finally meet you. Would you like to come inside?”

    I hesitated. I was doing okay so far, hadn’t fallen apart, but could the interior send me over the edge? “Have you changed the inside?” I asked. “If it looks different, I think I can handle it.”

    “Come in,” they said. They led me inside and were as tender as if I were returning to a long-ago childhood home, rather than one left a mere four months ago.

    Several of the former white living room walls were painted bright colors. The wooden floors had been finished in a darker stain. The stair banisters were now white. In the kitchen, the oak cabinets had also been painted white.

    I couldn’t recognize this house! There was no repetition of the many pieces of art we had hung on our white walls. A large sectional had replaced the facing couches that cushioned Tommy and Buddy on one and me on the other.

    “Do you want to see upstairs?” they asked. I was growing confident.

    “Sure,” I said. More painted walls, a crib in the smallest bedroom, an alcove there once stuffed with extra bedding had become a closet for baby clothes, new carpeting in all of the bedrooms. I was as delighted as if I had been the contractor who had performed the renovations.

    I cooed and praised at the remake. It wasn’t so much because I admired their decorating choices but because everything looked completely different!

    We shook hands when I left. “I know you’ll enjoy the house and the neighbors as much as we did,” I said.

    “We love it already,” they said.

    The party was sweet; the neighbors were grateful I had attended. When I left, as I walked back to the Blue Line on the opposite side of the street of my old house, I stopped for a final look.

    “Goodbye,” I said. With just a slight mist blurring my vision, I put two fingers to my lips and blew my old house a kiss. Then I continued my journey home.

  • “A Painter Built On the Substructure of An Engineer”: Portraits in Design, Beatrix Farrand as Mentor at the National Building Museum

    by Lynden B. Miller,  Public Garden Designer*

    Beatrix Farrand (1872-1959) was America’s finest landscape garden designer. Her most extensive project, Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, DC, has been described as ranking with “the greatest gardens in the world.”1 Her career and her work continue to be an inspiration today. She has long been a role model for many women in the landscape design field who have followed her.

    Cutting/Kitchen Garden

    Though she came from a privileged background where women seldom worked, Mrs. Farrand was the ultimate professional. During her long career, she created 200 projects, both public and private. Self-taught, she educated her eye to great landscape design as a young woman through travel abroad, making cogent observations in her journals. Later she apprenticed with Charles Sprague Sargent at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston and learned about everything she could about plants, a subject that remained her passion for the rest of her life. Though she was one of the founders of the American Society of Landscape Architects, she always called herself a “Landscape Gardener.”

    The Kitchen/Cutting Garden, Dumbarton Oaks

    Mrs. Farrand made gardens for the rich and famous, many of whom were social acquaintances, and a number of these gardens still exist and are open to the public, such as Bellefield in Hyde Park, NY; Eolia (now Harkness State Park) near New London; several splendid gardens on Mt. Desert Island in Maine; and landscapes at Princeton, Yale, and the University of Chicago.

    Mrs. Farrand described her profession as that of a “painter built on the substructure of an engineer.”2 She emphasized in many writings that “the garden-maker must know intimately the forms and texture as well as the colour of all the plants he uses; for plants are to the gardener what his palette is to a painter.”3

    The work for which she is most famous is Dumbarton Oaks, which she once described as “the best and most deeply-felt work of a fifty year practice.”4 Designed on 53 steeply-sloping acres in Washington, DC as a series of garden rooms with beautiful plantings for a private client, she worked actively on this project from 1921 until the late 1940s. The garden was given to Harvard University in November of 1940 and eventually opened to the public.

    One of the reasons why Dumbarton Oaks is so universally admired is that it was conceived and produced as a work of art, based on a wide knowledge of historic garden design but combining this knowledge in a unique way. In the many different garden ‘rooms,’ Mrs. Farrand never used plants as incidentals or add-ons but always for their own intrinsic design value as architectural and sculptural elements. Regrettably, this is something very rarely seen in the landscape architecture profession at the present time.

    Plants were used to screen or enclose areas, to frame views as well as to enhance the qualities of each particular garden room. The gardens were designed for different seasons, especially emphasizing the use of plants for winter. To further enhance her artistic creation, she also designed elegant garden furniture, pots, and gates for each section.

    Beatrix

    Beatrix Farrand’s Plant Book For Dumbarton Oaks: written in 1940, is one of the most important books about landscape design and its maintenance.

  • Congressional Bills Introduced: IRS & Trafficking, Ratifying CEDAW; Campus Sexual Violence; Tax Credits

    Senator Shaheen

    Child Protection

    S. 656—Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (3/4/15) — A bill to enable state child protective services systems to improve the identification and assessment of child victims of sex trafficking, and for other purposes.

    Education

    S. 643—Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (3/3/15) — A bill to strengthen connections to early childhood education programs, and for other purposes.

    S. 645—Sen. Robert Casey (D-PA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (3/3/15) — A bill to assist states in providing voluntary high-quality universal prekindergarten programs and programs to support infants and toddlers.

    Senator Jeanne  Shaheen of New Hampshire

    Family Support

    H.R. 1281—Rep. John Carney (D-DE)/ Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce (3/4/15) — A bill to increase the number of months of vocational educational training that may be counted as work under the temporary assistance for needy families program.

    Health

    S. 628—Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (3/3/15) — A bill to provide for the designation of maternity care health professional shortage areas.

    H.R. 1197—Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL)/Energy and Commerce (3/3/15) — A bill to provide for the establishment of a commission to accelerate the end of breast cancer.

    H.R. 1209—Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX)/Energy and Commerce (3/3/15) — A bill to provide for the designation of maternity care health professional shortage areas.

    S. 674—Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)/Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (3/4/15) — A bill to expand programs with respect to women’s health.

    Human Trafficking 

    H.R. 1201—Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX)/Judiciary (3/2/15) — A bill to combat human trafficking.

    S. 623—Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)/Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (3/3/15) — A bill to direct the secretary of Homeland Security to train Department of Homeland Security personnel how to effectively deter, detect, disrupt, and prevent human trafficking during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities, and for other purposes.

    S. 642—Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)/Judiciary (3/3/15) — A bill to aid human trafficking victims’ recovery and rehabilitation.

    H.R. 1311—Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)/Ways and Means, Judiciary (3/4/15) — A bill to provide for the establishment of an office within the Internal Revenue Service to focus on violations of the internal revenue laws by persons who are under investigation for conduct relating to the promotion of commercial sex acts and trafficking in persons crimes, and to increase the criminal monetary penalty limitations for the underpayment or overpayment of tax due to fraud.

    International

    S. Res. 97—Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)/Foreign Relations (3/4/15) — A resolution supporting the goals of International Women’s Day.

    H. Res. 145—Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)/Foreign Affairs (3/4/15) — A resolution expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Senate should ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

    H.R. 1340—Rep. Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)/Foreign Affairs (3/6/15) — A bill to prevent international violence against women, and for other purposes.

    Judiciary

    H.R. 1257—Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)/Judiciary (3/4/15) — A bill to direct the attorney general to make grants to states that have in place laws that terminate the parental rights of men who father children through rape.

    Miscellaneous

    H. Res. 137—Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA)/Oversight and Government Reform (3/3/15) — A resolution supporting the goals and ideals of National Women’s History Month.

    H. Res. 140—Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA)/Armed Services (3/3/15) — A resolution expressing support for designation of August 2015 as “Blue Star Mothers of America Month.”

    Tax Policy

    S. 661—Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)/Finance (3/4/15) — A bill to enhance the dependent care tax credit, and for other purposes.

    S. 664—Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)/Finance (3/4/15) — A bill to create a tax credit for foster families.

    H.R. 1286—Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)/Ways and Means (3/4/15) — A bill to eliminate the lower threshold for the refundable portion of the child tax credit, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 1298—Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX)/Ways and Means (3/4/15) — A bill to prevent retroactive claims of the earned income tax credit by individuals issued social security numbers, and for other purposes.

    H.R. 1328—Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ)/Ways and Means (3/4/15) — A bill to deny the earned income tax credit to any individual who received temporary deportation relief and work authorization in accordance with any program not specifically established by act of Congress.

    H.R. 1332—Rep. Randy Weber (R-TX)/Ways and Means (3/4/15) — A bill to disallow the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit for individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States or who have received work authorization pursuant to certain deferred action programs.

    H.R. 1333—Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)/Ways and Means (3/4/15) — A bill to clarify eligibility for the child tax credit.

    Violence Against Women

    H.R. 1258—Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA)/Judiciary, Agriculture (3/4/15) — A bill to protect the pets of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and dating violence.

    H.R. 1310—Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY)/Education and the Workforce, Judiciary (3/4/15) — A bill to combat campus sexual violence, and for other purposes.

     Courtesy of  Women’s Policy Inc.

  • The Last Part of Our Journey Together

    foothills of the pyrenees

     


    In the Foothills of the Pyrenees,  Carrie Hill; Birmingham Museum of Art. Gift of Birmingham, Alabama Art Club

    By Jane Shortall

    My husband’s death was not a sudden event. It should not have been such a shock, but it was.

    Prostate cancer had been diagnosed in early 2012, and had advanced into his bones. It was aggressive. We knew there would be no happy ending. There was no question of a cure.

    Even with all this knowledge, eighteen months of watching him suffer, caring for him pretty much alone, the loss for me was enormous. Far, far worse than I could have imagined.

    I found myself completely unprepared for the final goodbye. Perhaps because for twenty two years, it had been, in a way, just us. Of course we had friends and family, but we had chosen, in some people’s eyes, a very different life.

    We were two romantics, lovers of France, who met in the 1990’s, retired early and ten years later, sold up and went to live in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Life was idyllic and my writing about it featured in newspapers, magazines, journals, even a couple of books. Particularly popular with American readers was my Blog. Many contacted me, became virtual friends. I’ve plans to meet them eventually.

    Our good life continued until, in December 2012, Larry felt unable to face the future in France. He suddenly announced he must return to Ireland. Explaining his need to be ‘among family and old friends’,  he convinced himself life would be better there.

    He never convinced me. The decision shocked me, filled me with misery and despair. But how could I argue? Larry was the one with the appalling diagnosis.

    Weeks before, we had gone down to Portugal for the winter, but Larry hated it, endlessly compared it to France. So we headed back up north, through Portugal, Spain and up the west coast of France to La Rochelle. We had intended, in the future, to leave the Pyrenees and move there. I thought this presented a good opportunity to look around, make a plan for the future. But Larry’s decision to return to Ireland cancelled all French plans. Four days later we boarded the ferry.

  • Gemeente Museum in The Hague: Romantic Fashions: Mr. Darcy Meets Eline Vere

    romantic dress

    Until  22 March 2015, in The Hague, Netherlands

    Rustling silk, breathtaking embroidery, frills and flounces, vast crinolines… Sharply tailored suits for dandies and elegant ball gowns for ladies… This 19th-century fashion exhibition at the Gemeente Museum in The Hague features costumes from the time of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Eline Vere and Downton Abbey.

    In addition to entire costumes, the show includes glamorous accessories, tightly laced corsets and original fashion prints and photographs. With the help of the Prince Bernhard Culture Fund, many items have been restored especially for the occasion and are on show to the public for the first time. The inclusion of contemporary creations shows how the 19th century still influences life today, as modern designers continue to draw inspiration from its forms, silhouettes and techniques.

    Examples include the magnificent embroidery of Jan Taminiau, the dandyism of Vivienne Westwood, and the (often dark) romanticism of Jean Paul Gaultier and Edwin Oudshoorn. The 19th century was an exciting and turbulent era of dramatic social change. Fashion was no longer the exclusive preserve of rulers and their wealthy aristocratic courtiers; it played a major role in the new social order.

    How did people dress to show off their ‘new money’? And how could the ancient nobility distinguish itself through its court dress? As the century progressed, new fashion trends were disseminated ever faster as fashion magazines emerged and became increasingly influential. The female fashion silhouette changed constantly, men’s clothing became less restricted and children’s dress was no longer simply a miniature version of what adults wore.

    Evening dress by Jan Taminiau, collection ‘Nature Extends’, Photography: Koen Hauser, art direction: Maarten Spruyt

  • Five Things To Know About The Supreme Court Case Challenging The Health Law

    The Affordable Care Act is once again before the Supreme Court.column from the supreme court

    Today, the justices have heard oral arguments in King v. Burwell, a case challenging the validity of tax subsidies helping millions of Americans buy health insurance if they don’t get it through an employer or the government. If the court rules against the Obama administration, those subsidies could be cut off for everyone in the three dozen states using healthcare.gov, the federal exchange website. A decision is expected by the end of June.

    Marble column from the Supreme Court Building

    Here are five things you should know about the case and its potential consequences:

    1: This case does not challenge the constitutionality of the health law.

    The Supreme Court has already found the Affordable Care Act is constitutional. That was settled in 2012’s NFIB v. Sebelius.

    At issue in this case is a line in the law stipulating that subsidies are available to those who sign up for coverage “through an exchange established by the state.” In issuingregulations to implement the subsidies in 2012, however, the IRS said that subsidies would also be available to those enrolling through the federal health insurance exchange. The agency noted Congress had never discussed limiting the subsidies to state-run exchanges and that making subsidies available to all “is consistent with the language, purpose and structure” of the law as a whole.

    Last summer, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond ruled that the regulations were a permissible interpretation of the law. While the three-judge panel agreed that the language in the law is “ambiguous,” they relied on so-called “Chevron deference,” a legal principle that takes its name from a 1984 Supreme Court ruling that held that courts must defer to a federal agency’s interpretation as long as that interpretation is not unreasonable.

    Those challenging the law, however, insist that Congress intended to limit the subsidies to state exchanges. “As an inducement to state officials, the Act authorizes tax credits and subsidies for certain households that purchase health insurance through an Exchange, but restricts those entitlements to Exchanges created by states,” wrote Michael Cannon and Jonathan Adler, two of the fiercest critics of the IRS interpretation, in an article in the Health Matrix: Journal of Law-Medicine.

    In any case, a ruling in favor of the challengers would affect only the subsidies available in the states using the federal exchange. Those in the 13 states operating their own exchanges would be unaffected. The rest of the health law, including its expansion of Medicaid and requirements for coverage of those with pre-existing conditions, would remain in effect.

    This KHN story also ran on NPR’s Shots blog. It can be republished for free (details).logo npr

    2: If the court rules against the Obama administration, millions of people could be forced to give up their insurance.

    A study by the Urban Institute found that if subsidies in the federal health exchange are disallowed, 9.3 million people could lose $28.8 billion of federal help paying for their insurance in just the first year. Since many of those people would not be able to afford insurance without government help, the number of uninsured could rise by 8.2 million people.

    A separate study from the Urban Institute looked at those in danger of losing their coverage and found that most are low and moderate-income white, working adults who live in the South.

    3: A ruling against the Obama administration could have other effects, too.

    Experts say disallowing the subsidies in the federal exchange states could destabilize the entire individual insurance market, not just the exchanges in those states. Anticipating that only those most likely to need medical services will hold onto their plans, insurers would likely increase premiums for everyone in the state who buys their own insurance, no matter where they buy it from.

    “If subsidies [in the federal exchange] are eliminated, premiums would increase by about 47 percent,” said Christine Eibner of the RAND Corporation, who co-authored a study projecting a 70 percent drop in enrollment.

    Eliminating tax subsidies for individuals would also impact the law’s requirement that most larger employers provide health insurance. That’s because the penalty for not providing coverage only kicks in if a worker goes to the state health exchange and receives a subsidy. If there are no subsidies, there are also no employer penalties.

    4: Consumers could lose subsidies almost immediately.

    Supreme Court decisions generally take effect 25 days after they are issued. That could mean that subsidies would stop flowing as soon as July or August, assuming a decision in late June. Insurers can’t drop people for non-payment of their premiums for 90 days, although they have to continue to pay claims only for the first 30.

    Although the law’s requirement that individuals have health insurance would remain in effect, no one is required to purchase coverage if the lowest-priced plan in their area costs more than eight percent of their income. So without the subsidies, and with projected premium increases, many if not most people would become exempt.

    5: Congress could make the entire issue go away by passing a one-page bill. But it won’t.

    All Congress would have to do to restore the subsidies is pass a bill striking the line about subsidies being available through exchanges “established by the state.” But given how many Republicans oppose the law, leaders have already said they will not act to fix it. Republicans are still working to come up with a contingency plan should the ruling go against the subsidies. Even that will be difficult given their continuing ideological divides over health care.

    States could solve the problem by setting up their own exchanges, but that is a lengthy and complicated process and in most cases requires the consent of state legislatures. And the Obama administration has no power to step in and fix things either, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a letter to members of Congress.

    jrovner@kff.org | @jrovner

    Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent operating program of the Kaiser Family Foundation. (c) 2014 Kaiser Health News. All rights reserved.