We’re here (pt 4)
They can make it look like they made less than they actually do. Or they know someone in the Medicaid office that “hooked up” the application for them. Or they would use the social security number of someone they knew to claim more people lived with them. I even know of a woman who was receiving benefits for 5 whole kids, that she claimed her sister in law’s daycare was watching. She got food stamps for a household of 6, and the sister in law got a check for daycare assistance for 5 whole kids. And those kids were living with their grandmother, in another country. And the crazy thing is the workers KNOW that the system is broken. Most of them are the ones that ask me...
“Is there anyone else you can claim, like a younger friend or sibling?”
-No. No I can't. My siblings don’t even live in this state!
“That’s even better! I mean, it doesn't hurt to ask, right!”
-Actually YES! Yes it does. I can’t do that.
“Well I’m sorry, but you don't qualify for the affordable health insurance for your son. You will have to pay the fee.”
Yep, you read correctly. It even applies towards getting insurance.
So basically I’m telling you that if you want government assistance you need to break the law, never work again, or learn how to work the system. I am a single mother working my ass off to provide for my child and trying to earn a living doing what I love. I am a performing artist and in the year 2008, that meant, I teach dance to all ages and levels, cater waiter at night, bartend on the weekends, teach fitness/yoga/pilates classes, judge dance competitions for a couple weekend in the spring, all the while trying to audition to get a dance gig so I can be back on stage wear I am my most self AND working to become an administrative position with a dance/ performing arts program. And because of all of that, I make too much to get any assistance, but I don't make enough to meet the Middle Class income level to qualify for affordable housing. I’m somewhere in between homeless and middle class. I am Low Income. And no, I don't plan on staying there. I don't think most people do. But what used to grind my gears more than that, was having people tell me, “ you should get a regular 9-5 with benefits.”
And to them I say…
Everything is all relative.
I’ve worked hard to get my working schedule to fit his school drop off and dismissal times and allow me to bring him to work if there’s no school that day. If I worked a 9-5, I would have to pay someone to get him to and from school and watch him on days when school is out. I don't have family here that has a schedule that allows them to do it for me. My friends (who help out when they can) are hustling just like me. So then the 9-5 would have to pay enough to afford the babysitter rate of $15/hr totally $75 for the day. So even if my 9-5 job would be paying me $30/hour, that's $240/day, BEFORE taxes are taking out, minus the $75 for the babysitter, leaves me with $165/day again BEFORE taxes. That’s $825/week and $3,300/month. BEFORE TAXES ARE TAKEN OUT! Did you see the quasi budget from the previous post. And of course this is only if he is old enough to be in school. So I’d be struggling with a 9-5 as well. If I’m going to struggle at least let me struggle doing something I love. It takes the sting out of it a bit.
I was planting seeds of growth, so that eventually it would sustain us better. It just would have been nice to get some assistance, because I was doing the best I could. But at the end of the day, I understand that I made the decision to have him, it is my responsibility to provide and take care of him. No one else’s. So... I hustle.