Standing in Line at the Medicaid Office

Seeing human suffering laid bare at its lowest

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

Earlier this week, I was prompted to fill out my Medicaid renewal online. It was declined immediately, with no indication as to the reason. So on Tuesday I went to the Medicaid office to find out what was going on. It was a huge building with windows where people were being helped in the order that they took a number.

I ended up having to wait about 4 hours to be assisted. Luckily for me, they were able to resolve the issue, and renewed my Medicaid for a year. Turns out, they denied my application because I have moved too many times and they were unable to locate me. With an updated address and phone number, the issue was resolved.

I don’t know if everyone waiting in those lines was that lucky.

Sitting there and waiting as long as I was, I noticed some things. How quietly most of the people were waiting. Just sitting, some with children they were trying desperately to shush so as not to bother others.

It was a stark contrast to the job I quit last week where I was in a room full of people screaming loudly and indignantly to be served. There was no sense of entitlement at the Medicaid office. People quietly resigned to accept their fate, whatever it may be.

Spending time in the company of the poorest of the poor made me think. It made me see the systemic problems in our country and the division of the very rich and the very poor.

When I posted my personal stories about what I have been going through, I received a beautiful outpouring of sympathy and care. It touches my heart to know that people that I have never met in person are rooting for me, hoping that I will be able to scrape myself up and find some measure of security and success in life.

Be Careful what You Say to People, You Don’t Know their Story

No One Cares if I Live, But God Forbid I Say I Want to Die

Finding a Way Forward while Coping with Mental Illness

When I See Suffering, it Makes me Angry

I really appreciate all the care and support that I have received from all of my readers. It means something to know that what I say can still make a difference, no matter what other struggles and failings I may have. I am still making a contribution, and people find it valuable. You have no idea how much a kind word helps when you are suffering.

The thing is, though, it isn’t just me that is struggling. So many people in our society are coping every day with battles that no one sees: poverty, homelessness, mental illness, job loss, disability, and more. A lot of those people don’t have the strength to speak up for themselves, or have an online forum in which to do so. A lot of people don’t have phones or computers to get on the internet.

According to Federal Safety Net, Americans in Poverty breaks down like this:

1. Adults not working – 31%

2. Adults without a high school diploma – 25%

3. Adults with a disability – 24%

4. Single moms – 23%

5. Foreign born non-citizens – 19%

6. Black Americans – 17%

7. Hispanic Americans – 17%

8. Children – 15%

9. Single Dads – 12%

10. Seniors – 10%

11. White Americans – 9%

12. Married couples – 5%

13. Adults with a college degree – 4%

14. Full-time working adults – 2%

While reasons that people fall into poverty on an individual level are varied, there are many common themes when it comes to poverty rates currently. During the COVID pandemic, more people fell into poverty, especially due to job loss. This can also lead to a loss of housing as well, since many people are just one paycheck away from a disaster when it comes to their finances.

According to Feeding America, some of the most common reasons that people fall into poverty include:

• Low wages and unemployment

• Lack of affordable housing

• Racism and discrimination

• Education and healthcare

We need to be able to, as a society, address these causes of poverty, and provide a stronger social safety net comparable to other developed countries, such as those in the EU. This has a lot to do with the fact that the US devotes less resources to helping the poor than virtually every other developed country today.

According to Confronting Poverty,

The result of these social policy differences is that they substantially reduce the extent of poverty in Europe and Canada, while American social policy exerts only a small impact upon poverty reduction. As economist Rebecca Blank notes, “The national choice in the United States to provide relatively less generous transfers to low-income families has meant higher relative poverty rates in the country. While low-income families in the United States work more than in many other countries, they are not able to make up for lower governmental income support relative to their European counterparts.”

On a greater social and political level, the US is doing less to help the poor than what is done elsewhere, and resultingly has more people living in poverty. As the richest country in the world, we need to do better. We need to embrace values of altruism and compassion to counteract the effects of capitalism and individualism that currently prevail in American culture.

We need to do better to help others, so that people aren’t standing for ages in a welfare line, wondering if they are going to be able to make it through one more week, or one more day. We need to recognize that people are more than paychecks, and that everyone has something valuable to contribute, if given the proper chance.

Again, thank you for the outpouring of support you have given me personally. I hope that my stories can impact your thinking about those of us living in poverty on a perpetual basis, and help to think about greater social changes.

Have a great week,

Nicole Dake

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