My sister and mother were by to visit on Saturday. Judayl needed to bring home her things which failed to sell at the garage sale back in June. They stayed for three or four hours and we had cookout on the grill with a Jello-Cool Whip dessert.
As is usual with my family our conversation spanned a variety of topics, from politics to family history to driving. During our varied talks Mother mentioned Daddy's attitude toward saving lots of money: he saw no point in it. Probably because he had grown up poor and mistreated during the Great Depression. He saw how little a person could have. Of course, that doesn't make things easy. But I guess he used to say, "What's the point of saving all that money? If disaster occurs, you've never saved enough, and no one will help you until it is all gone anyway."
I think he was right about that. Mother related how she and Daddy had watched a fairly well-off family lose their farm when their little girl took very sick. No help came forth until they were completely broke. But being broke doesn't always mean one gets help - even from those government agencies created to help people who really do need help.
One of Mother's friends, an elderly woman in her late 80s, has developed MS. She's bruised all over from falling down all the time. Once she lay on the floor for two hours until someone chanced by and heard her calling for help. She has no family nearby so she applied at the state for assisted living. She was turned down. Told she wasn't sick enough.
A friend of my sisters has a baby daughter, less than two years old. She has a rare condition of elephantitus in which only half of her body is swelling. This includes internal organs. Her throat is damaged from acid reflux because her esophagus is not uniform. The family has spent thousands upon thousands of dollars of their own money (after insurance) to keep her alive. They also went to the state seeking some kind of assistance. They were turned down. Turns out baby just isn't sick enough.
Spouse and I have gone through something similar, although not so dire. Having seen our family income drop 80%, we often find it difficult to make ends meet. (Hence, the foreclosure on the house.) Spouse has applied - more than once - to state and county agencies for help regarding health insurance, utility bills, and refinancing the house. Every time we applied the response was the same: You make too much money for us to help you.
That's fine. Except I don't think it's the truth. Why do I think it's a lie? Because the specific thing we are told is exactly the same every time Spouse has applied. "You make $500 a month too much."
Well and good. Except how can we be making $500 a month too much when that was how much too much we made the last time we applied and our income has gone down? Regarding health insurance, it got so bad with the county that we could not qualify for assistance with health insurance unless we made less than $6,000 in a year. That's insane! Three people living on $6,000 in a year? I don't think so. But the truth is, we don't earn that much more anyway.
It seems clear to me that we were turned down for some other reason and that "you make too much money" is the standard rejection. Probably the same is true for health things, which is why the senior woman and the baby were said to "not be sick enough".
And it's not like nobody is getting any help. There are people who earn more than we do who are getting state and/or county assisted health insurance. Why? How? When we asked them we got uncomfortable looks and incoherent mumbling. We are left to guess, and my guess is that perhaps they have not been entirely truthful in their paperwork. Not that I blame them. Our entire society is geared to encourage lies. Lies are rewarded - even when everyone knows it is a lie. The more we tell the truth the more we are punished for it.
Americans do not like the truth. When the truth is bad, we surround it with disinformation, as it is called. Putting it plainly, we lie. That's what Washington is all about. Lies. Half-lies. Three-quarter lies. It's amazing that people survive being there. But it filters down into all aspects of our society.
For myself, I don't really mind being turned down by the agencies my past tax money went to create. What bugs me is being told something so completely ridiculous as an excuse. I would much rather just be told the truth: You're too old; You're fat; You're ugly; You're black; You're white; You're a Democrat; You're a Republican; You're Independent. Just tell me the frikkin' truth. I can't afford a lawyer, so I'm certainly not going to sue. I didn't sue the idiot who told me to my face I was too old to send to a job interview. (Why bother?)
It's like the guy from the bank talking with Spouse last fall. "Well, we'll be happy to help you renegotiate your monthly payment - as soon as you make more money than you spend." Spouse responded with, "If we made more money than we spend we wouldn't need help."
But that is also the American way: Help those who need it least. Not that I necessarily mind anyone getting help. Just stop giving me a*sinine reasons why I don't qualify.
4 comments:
It's a tough situation to be in and I feel for you.
Thanks. But, as I wrote, there is a baby dying and an old woman suffering. I honestly can't say I have it all that bad in comparison.
Could it be that all of you are victims of the funding cutbacks to the agencies and county systems that help people in desperate circumstances? Let's face it, there are segments of society that believe it's more important to reduce taxes and spending than to help others. Priorities, man.
It's certainly possible in this state. Minnesota's Governor H-A-T-E-S poor people and has cut, or at least tried to cut, funding for basic health services every year he's been in office.
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