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ArkHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:10pm
As I said I’m grateful for the assistance I’ve received but I believe that in the regressive state of Indiana it is common to shame and humiliate the poor.

I can vouch for that. This place is a shithole, our governor is a bigot, and shaming and humiliating poor people is a popular passtime even among the poor. I guess it’s easier to say they deserve what they get than it is to ask for one more penny in tax revenue from the oligarchs.

The state is awash in grinding, hopeless poverty, especially out in the country where people live in filthy, run-down shacks and trailers that look like they would be at home in a third world country. If you’re lucky, your town has a Cummins plant or a Chrysler plant that a select few blessed people will get the opportunity to work at. Otherwise, you can pretty much join the Army or work a low-wage retail or food service job. Opportunity has been steadily drying up out here and everyone knows it, even as Mike Pence and his jerkoff friends continue to hack away at taxes and services and race to the bottom in the hopes that if we grovel enough to the oligarchs, they will take pity and bestow our state with a few more precious (low-paid) jobs.

And, oh yeah, they make us pay for Medicaid here (and call it Healthy Indiana) so we’ll “have a stake in our own healthcare”. Condescending assholes. Some days I really can’t wait to leave.
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  cgistArk
  6/26/15 11:32pm
  HIP 2.0 is actually the best thing Pence has done since taking office. My premium is 18.00 a month. I’m now getting actual health care from all sources, instead of having to piece meal needed care from providers I could afford with my limited income. It was a big shock when I first called a provider seeking a doctor. The lady asked me who my provider was, and after I answered said “Oh, you have Medicaid.” In my head, I think no lady, Pence was adamantly opposed to expanding Medicaid. This is HIP 2.0. I really don’t care what they call it. I go to my doctor. He orders tests. In the last month, I’ve been able to get my first mammogram, help for chronic back pain, and allergies. Paying for Medicaid means I don’t pay any co-pays even today when I had to visit urgent care after suffering a burn accident.. I have paid for one prescription, for Vitamin D prescribed for a deficiency, which is whack, but insurance companies, what can you do? Congress have been chipping away at Medicaid for years, resulting in co-pays, forcing recipients to pay for prescriptions. It’s not the free ride the haters make it out to be. At the end of every doctor’s visit, I hear ”You are all taken care of for today. You don’t have to stop at the desk.”
  
  TL:DR Pence is a backwards idiot, but HIP 2.0 is a blessing for me.
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  Arkcgist
  6/26/15 11:59pm
  I’ve only been on it a few months and haven’t had to use it yet. I still chafe at having to write a $20 check every month to satisfy Pence’s ideological need to make me part with something for the “privilege” of having health coverage, but it’s better than nothing.
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dothedewHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:23pm
This is a false question, or perhaps a trick question. It presupposes that God ever actually loved you (or any of us). Based on my quick research, I have determined that if there is or was a God, that God does not really love any of us and, in fact, may not even give 2 shits about any of us, on or off the dole. Happy Friday everyone.
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  BaneKittydothedew
  6/26/15 1:45pm
  Isn’t my favorite Dew... a... Jew? ;)
  
  Mine loves me. Sacrifice for forgiveness and sin and all of that.
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  dothedewBaneKitty
  6/26/15 1:54pm
  I am a Jew by birth and by tradition, but I am a rationalist by training and experience. I teach my kids not to tell the gentile kids that there is no Santa Claus, so far be it from me to rain on anyone’s delusions. But if God loves His creation, He sure has a funny way of showing it. I’m sticking with
  
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mozhatesmeHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:12pm
I’m curious about “Braids’” story, when and where she was on assistance specifically.

WTW regulations in CA do require you to participate in a Welfare-to-Work activity to retain your benefits if you aren’t already employed or engaged in a comparable activity. But if you are employed, whatever hours you are currently working would count to meet the required hours to be in compliance of your WTW plan.
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  52ndstatemozhatesme
  6/26/15 2:00pm
  Super honest, racially charged, but clueless white person question: How are braids an unprofessional look? What’s the alternative the case worker was trying to have her do to her hair?
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  mozhatesme52ndstate
  6/26/15 2:19pm
  Good question! I’ve only heard a handful of explanations for this from WTW facilitators. One was that braids are construed as childish, because it speaks to a person’s personality (WTF?). At the previous bureau, for Job Clubs, people are asked to dress professionally of course, but also to have neutral hair styles (which really applies to only black women, and long-haired men - who BTW are suggested to get haircuts). I’m assuming this is in the same vein, considering that employers are looking at everything you put on paper, and what you are wearing from head to toe to gain an impression of you.
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Denzel WashyourtongueHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:05pm
I know vegetables are good for you, but they are so low in calories that when you are trying to buy food that will keep you full, vegetables often get passed over

Oh. This. So much fucking this.
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nopunin10didHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:17pm
Man, this was tough:

I think it has something to do with the religion which says “well I’m affluent so God loves me; you’re poor so God does not love you; therefore I don’t have to like much less love you.”

That theology, which implies that God loves the poor less than the rich, or that the poor are somehow less righteous than the rich, goes against several things stated blatantly and clearly by Jesus.

I hate how many Christian communities seem to be landing in this self-congratulatory rubbish of a theology.
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  Terrynopunin10did
  6/26/15 2:23pm
  This makes me so angry. The fucking prosperity gospel. The fucking nerve.
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  MDVillarrealnopunin10did
  6/26/15 2:28pm
  “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
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IbrakeforbakesalesHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:59pm
I don’t know if any of the people who wrote these stories will read this but I’d like to inform the ones who are disabled but “have too much” that there is a thing that is available in all 50 states that social services will not tell you. It’s called a disability pooled trust. As long as you or your spouse has been or can be declared disabled by SSA you can send your medicaid spend down to the trust monthly, you then send the trust your bills, receipts, etc and they either send a check to whom you owe or send you a reimbursement for your receipts. There is a monthly fee (ours is $20) but it’s all legit. So if you apply for medicaid and are told you make x $ too much and would have to spend down, you simply send that money to the trust and your spend down goes to $0. I urge anyone to look into it. It’s been a lifesaver for the lady I care for. All the agencies ask me “how did you know about that?”. Most people don’t...

Also, if you are past retirement age, you can still get a disability determination by SSA. Many people think the SSA determination only applies to those during working years.

I hope someone will star to get me out of grays. This info can really help people.
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  NicoIbrakeforbakesales
  6/26/15 3:23pm
  I didn't really understand all that, but out of the grays with you helpful stranger.
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  IbrakeforbakesalesNico
  6/26/15 3:28pm
  Thanks. To simplify, medicaid has an income max, anything over would have to be spent monthly on medical needs before medicaid would kick in. For one person, it’s usually $8xx a month, so if you made $1200, you get devastated bc you can’t afford $400 oop a month so you get a disability trust and it shields the money. It was created so those with or taking care of a disabled person (especially children, which can be a 50 year commitment) don’t lose everything.
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raincoasterHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 8:01pm
One of the most insidious and effective evils of the system is that cost of living allowances are swallowed up immediately, either in clawbacks from other parts of the system, or by greedy landlords etc. In BC, every time welfare goes up, so does the housing costs, so nobody ever even manages to keep up with inflation, despite cost of living allowances.
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TessHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 1:40pm
“I’m still not entirely sure why folks here are so ugly-hearted to the poor but it’s a fact even though your average hoosier would deny it. I think it has something to do with the religion which says “well I’m affluent so God loves me; you’re poor so God does not love you; therefore I don’t have to like much less love you.””

This made me profoundly sad. All these troubles and such little money and he/she is still sending money to a son in jail. A disabled older person should be able to pay for necessities. A person in jail should have the basics such as shampoo provided. What a country we live in.
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KitHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 2:02pm
These stories are utterly heartbreaking. I found the second one especially difficult to read. This is life, I suppose. The people we see and interact with on a daily basis are survivors - for now. We don’t often see those who have starved, perished via circumstance or those who are crushed by the burden of responsibility. What you’re exposing is very important, Hamilton. It could be any of us. This is the nature of human life and holy shit some people are suffering out there. Some people just get the shit end of the stick, and that’s never going to stop. Fuck.
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Mr. FactsHamilton Nolan
6/26/15 2:38pm
Reading these always makes me feel sick, but I always read and share them.
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