Public Assistance — Is This a Joke?
You may recall that I applied for welfare, Medicaid, and food stamps for my family when I lost my job in June. So now, nearly six weeks later, I get a letter in the mail telling me what we are — and aren’t —- eligible for. This is utterly ludicrous.
I had no income other than child support — which was supposed to be going up to $781 a month. (It hasn’t yet; another whole story.) I also had an IRA worth $8000. My children have medical and dental insurance through their father. I wanted Medicaid for myself, and welfare and food stamps for me and the children.
So here is their determination:
- I am not eligible for Medicaid, because I do not fit in one of the following groups: age 65 or older, disabled, blind, a woman with breast or cervical cancer, pregnant, under 21, or a parent raising a child under 21. (Okay, I see all of them except that last. I’m a mother with a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old. So how am I disqualified from Medicaid?)
- We are not eligible for Families First (welfare income) because my resources and gross income are too high. (I can see the first one, as I have that IRA. But my gross income was $781 a month. That’s too high to get help?)
- We are not eligible for Food Stamps for the same reasons.
- None of us is eligible for Medicaid because we have too much income to meet the standards. (Again, huh? $781 a month is too high to get Medicaid?)
- My younger son is (yes, IS) eligible for Medicaid because we have too much income to meet the rules and we meet all the rules. Come again?
This is a four-page letter, and I have listed the decisions they made in the same order that they are listed in the letter, with the reasons as they are listed in the letter (but leaving out all the rule numbers and the “how to appeal” stuff. This thing makes no sense whatsoever. None.
At least I don’t have to try to appeal it. We lived off my IRA for six weeks, using up half of it. As I now have a job, I don’t need any public assistance after all. Thanks, government, for nothing.