The Republican campaign to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients is working as expected.

[Demovictory9]

?resize=4098

Elizabeth Cloinger, 47, who lives in a trailer next to her cousin’s house just outside town, thought she was complying with the new rules. She has been on Medicaid for years and already had a job, working seven days most weeks as a home health aide. Her wages — 9.25 an hour, with 50 cents more for hospice patients — and her hours met the new rules. Yet she received a June letter saying she needed to verify that her income made her eligible, or she would be cut off.

She called the listed phone number and faxed information to a state employee in Pine Bluff. She was told that, like many people, she was exempt from the work requirements — in her case, because she was caring for her 20-year-old daughter recovering from a car accident and her 3-year-old granddaughter.

But on Aug. 18, she received another letter, saying she had been terminated because she had not verified her income. In December, four letters arrived saying she needed to update her email address, then 11 more in January. Each letter told her to create an online account. She doesn’t have a computer and didn’t realize that the program requires everyone to get an email address. This winter, she applied to get her insurance back and is still waiting for an answer. Statewide, about 1,900 of the 18,000 people cut off last year have regained coverage since January, when they could reapply. The state does not keep track of how many reapplied and were denied.

Being poor in this country is not only cruel and degrading, it's also been made insanely complicated. All of these qualities are deliberately created hardships courtesy of a political class for whom poverty is barely an issue any more. Poor people are always an issue, though. They're stealing Your Money and spending it on T-bones and Cadillacs. Poor people are convenient scapegoats. It's only poverty that's inconvenient.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a26964879/medicaid-work-requirements-arkansas-republicans/

[Wounded Bear]

1. K & R...for visibility...

Conservatism in America has gone full on asshole.

[PatrickforO]

21. Conservatism in America went 'full on asshole' back in 1995 when

the lockstep Republican house under the Newtster passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), otherwise known as 'welfare reform.'

This was during the era of Third Way Democrats, who thought our party could win more elections by being more 'middle-of-the-road.'

Unfortunately, due to increasing Republican refusal to negotiate, the Third Way ended up moving right pretty far, while the Republican party itself went way right.

Now, I'm happy to see that pendulum swing back a bit - we need leaders who actually have empathy for the people they are governing, and we need government to work. People really don't care what SIZE government is (hear that, Grover?). What they care about is how well that government works for them.

That is what we need to be focusing on - the kitchen table issues. Not the values that underlie those issues, or merely some slogans, but we need to address the actual issues - I'm scared I might lose my job because then I'll lose my healthcare and my spouse has a pre-existing condition...I wish my kids didn't have to take out such huge loans for college...I hope they don't cut Social Security and Medicare too much, because I'll need them when I stop working full time...What if I get sick? Will I end up going bankrupt?...Will the world really become uninhabitable if we don't make changes?...What kind of world will my grandkids and their kids inherit? Will they have to breathe through masks, or live underground?...I'm going to take major losses on my crops because of these tariffs.

These issues.

[Lifelong Protester]

35. You are correct.

[Locrian]

48. +1,000,000 - n/t

[Doremus]

51. [phone] nt

[ck4829]

2. K&R. All of those things, like the needing to create an email account, are features and not bugs

[Farmer-Rick]

3. The uber rich RepubliCON oligarchs purposely make the whole process complicated, inept and corrupt

That way they keep people off, who are perfectly eligible, with all the stupidity. See people like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg needed that few extra $100 in their pockets, from paying no or little state taxes, more than that poor woman needed health care.

Got to keep our rapacious, greedy oligarchs happy in order to prove that capitalism works. Many are obviously willing to suffer for the success of a handful of capitalist kings.

[calimary]

7. Yep! No kidding.

[monmouth4]

4. When one is poor, the added expense of a computer is a burden. Not everyone is near a library to

use one. So sad.

[blueinredohio]

11. Internet and computers are luxuries not necessities.

[SCVDem]

24. Try to live off line!

Good luck!

[blueinredohio]

34. It's like back in the he day when you couldn't afford a phone

you didn't have one. Everyone can't afford internet much less a computer. Some people barely keep a roof over their heads.

[LanternWaste]

60. Yeah... sure. Not a necessity.

"It's like back in the he day when you couldn't afford a phone..." you were prevented an efficient method to communicate with EMS and fire departments when necessary.

So, yeah... sure. Not a necessity.

[HubertHeaver]

12. Or the library's hours have been cut or your branch

just closed completely. Budgetary reasons, of course.

[csziggy]

62. Or as the woman in the article is working 7 days a week and caretaker for her daughter

When is supposed to have time to get to a library to use a computer?

[Honeycombe8]

42. This is so true. Many don't know how to use a computer.

Some don't have the money to spare for the extra gas to go use a computer at the library. If they are working, they may not have the time to take public transportation to go to the library. It's very complicated to do these things, when you're at the bottom of the barrel and don't have access to the things that most take for granted.

[uponit7771]

47. +1, computer's are not telephones. Matter of fact give a kid today a turn dial telephone and

... it'll take them a while to figure out how to dial a number on it.

[world wide wally]

5. And for some perverted reason, this makes MAGATs happy

[2naSalit]

6. K&R

[JohnnyRingo]

8. K&R

That's how welfare works now. Jump through an endless array of hoops, only to find you're eligible for $20 on a EBT card.

Man, do poor people have it made in the shade.

[DirtEdonE]

9. But we MUST take care of our billionaires!

Taxing them would be criminal. They've worked so hard for their money, they certainly deserve to keep it all.

That's what making America great again is all about.

Another example of capitalism at its finest. Starve the hungry to feed the rich.

America the beautiful is no longer a statement of pride, it's now followed by a question mark. I hate to have to ask but I wonder how many of the people affected by this voted repubican?

[Uncle Joe]

10. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread Demovictory.

[Solly Mack]

13. K&R

[dameatball]

14. I generally temper my language on here, just because. But....."What a bunch of rotten, greedy,

evil bastards!"
One poster mentioned library hours. My county library is closed on Sundays, probably the one day that most working people would likely have some free time. So anyone who is what we might call part of the working poor has yet another obstacle if they need computer access.

[Demovictory9]

16. yes. and she's taking care of a disabled person and toddler. Not so easy to run back and forth

to library checking emails. And maybe she doesn't have working car.

[dameatball]

17. Exactly. Hoops upon more hoops.

[Martin Eden]

15. How many of these poor people voted for Trump?

... and how many adversely affected by this policy will vote for him again?

I ask these questions not to demean these poor people, but to identify the disconnect between how a person votes and their own best interests.

Repairing this disconnection is a major challenge for Democrats and the key to electoral victory that will improve the lives of Americans who are struggling to survive.

[Demovictory9]

20. in some states, the repubs tried to include rules that impacted whites and blacks differently

the rules would have kept more of their base on Medicaid.

[Martin Eden]

23. I'm not surprised at the effort to craft rules based on race ...

... but such rules would still negatively affect whites, because targeting blacks with language specifying race would not survive a court challenge.

The reality is that Republican policies would hurt some of them while Democratic policies would not only protect them from loss of health care but likely enhance that coverage as well.

No doubt some people would still vote R in a positive response to such racism, but in reality it is still not in their own best interests to do so.

[Demovictory9]

26. as I recall, the rules referred to density of population.... so rural folks would be exempt

people saw it for what is was - trying to exempt white rural counties from the law. I think the repubs pulled the change.

[ooky]

44. They are told that the democrats are to blame

and many of them don't know any better.

[Martin Eden]

45. After all, Trump made the GOP the Party of Health Care, right?

Easily disprovable LIES, but that message has to get across somehow.

[ooky]

50. Very easily disprovable, and very frustrating.

[Hekate]

18. Apparently being poor in this country is a crime, but being a wealthy traitor is admirable ?

The only division is not of wealth but of people against one another.

[Demovictory9]

19. a wealthy traitor who inherited his wealth

[sweetroxie]

22. this is so sad

I feel a lot of pain for Elizabeth Cloinger and the many in her boat. How can people be so cruel and heartless?!

[OldBaldy1701E]

25. But that is part of their plan...

The corporations and the wealthy in this country have all but set up their information and hiring and everything else online. Then, they all gang up when the discussion of income is concerned and tell me that a computer is a 'luxury'. So, when you make it all but impossible for (certain) people to apply for work, and then berate them because they are not working... well, that seems like part of the 'keep 90% of the population near poverty so there will be a more populated wage slave force' practice. And it is designed to control just who gets to rise above that wage slave pool. But hey, bootstraps and all that...

[PandoraAwakened]

29. +1 kick

[Joe941]

27. Socialism is the solution to these problems.

[DirtEdonE]

30. I'd settle for a socialist/capitalist fusion at this point

Let the capitalist wealth engine run wild then tax the profits to provide basic human economic rights for everyone.

If they ask where the money is supposed to come from tell them it will come from them paying their fair share for the society that made their wealth possible - or we can just confiscate it all.

[Joe941]

31. It should be confiscated. There should not be millionaires and billionaires period.

[Locrian]

49. it's wealth / resource hoarding...

Just what it's (capitalism) designed to do. Take money/resources out of the system so a few can hoard it as wealth.

[DirtEdonE]

54. +1

The deficit is what we owe the few who horde those resources. It's a fake benchmark so they can get full return on their greed.

[DirtEdonE]

53. I agree completely

Millionaire. Billionaire. They're obscene.

[LanternWaste]

61. *A* solution, rather than *the* solution.

Limiting yourself to one and only one solution closes many other valid doors. Though 2+2=4 is valid, in and of itself, it does not deny that two plus two also equals 100-98 as well.

[Marthe48]

28. 2017 stats 23-28% of Americans don't have access

According to the link below, 23% of urban dwellers don't have or can't afford Internet access. In rural areas, it is 28%. So first, there is ability to access. The next is the cost of equipment-a computer, laptop or tablet, a modem, router, or wires, a monitor, and so on. It is easy to think of all the reasons that some people can't learn how to use a computer. People getting assistance are already in a bad spot.
Making them get Internet access so they can have an email address is ridiculous, especially when a fair percentage of elected representatives wouldn't know their ass from an email.

Being poor is not a life of ease. You have to scramble for every dollar to pay utilities, rent, other costs. Your social network are people in the same boat, who are also living from hand to mouth. Sometimes you can share resources, sometimes someone knows someone who can help you solve a problem, and problems happen every day. Imposing on people who are already overwhelming is cruel.

LBJ declared a war on poverty. He meant to eradicate the problem, not the people it plagues.

https://www.recode.net/2017/6/20/15839626/disparity-between-urban-rural-internet-access-major-economies

[Ohiogal]

32. Isn't that just mind boggling?

From those statistics, you could safely say one quarter of Americans don’t have or can’t afford computers and internet access.

What makes these cruel and hateful Republican lawmakers think everyone has a computer? Or a car?

[PatSeg]

36. Yes, I remember being extremely poor

and my friends and neighbors were as well, so helping one another was limited to borrowing a cup of sugar or giving someone a ride to the grocery store if and when their car was working. Generally people gave what they could, but there wasn't a whole to give, other than an understanding ear and a shoulder to lean on.

[Marthe48]

40. We were poor

but over 40 years ago. We rented a house for $35.00/month, utilities were $5 or $10/month each, gas was .39 cents/gal. Bacon was .79/lb hamb. was .49/lb, loaf of bread .10 cents. potatoes .03/ lb in a 100 lb. bag. It cost us $300.00 for the hospital, which we paid, and delivery of our first baby, about $400.00 for our 2nd, which by then my husband was working and had ins., which paid that bill. So it was easier than it is now. I can't even imagine.

We were just on our feet, and bought a house and 9 acres for 9500.00, when the recession hit in 1974. Gas went to .79/gal, overnight, because the U.S. upped the price on weapons and the Shah of Iran said Allah told him to raise the price of oil, so I heard at the time. Blew our economy out of the water. No work for 26 months. We got through, because the state and federal government kept extending the unemployment benefits. Everyone we knew was in the same boat. The guys went looking for work all around, even out of state. My sister-in-law and I got short term odd jobs, that helped for a week or two. Maybe living in poverty short term can be done, but some of the poverty, and I know people who can tell you, is generational, and families don't know anything different.

I think there must be a better way than what we have, but adding to the burden that poor people already have is cruel. No one needs to pee in a gold toilet and to have a gold toilet when others have an outhouse is cruel.

[PatSeg]

46. Once I became a single parent

in the mid-seventies, I struggled for many years. There were few, if any allowances made for working mothers. Things got worse during the Reagan years for many people and keeping a roof over one's head became very difficult. It often seemed that whenever I moved ahead one step, I would be pushed back two. The fear of dire poverty and homelessness hovers over me to this day. It never goes away.

Obviously there is a better way and unfortunately a lot of people have to be hit with some stark realities in order for there to be major change. I think we're seeing that now, as people face losing everything because of one major illness or job loss. It is no longer the poor bloke "over there" who is on the brink of destitution, it can happen to pretty much anyone, except for the wealthy.

In the 1930s the people embraced FDR and his radical "socialist" ideas, because they had sunk so low that there was no where else to go other than up. I think that is what we are seeing again. It takes drastic conditions to bring about drastic change. Too bad people aren't inclined to embrace positive change during the years of comfort and prosperity, but that is human nature I suppose and people tend to put their blinders on during the good times. For me however, it has always been, "There but for fortune......"

[Marthe48]

52. I won't forget

sometimes I don't do more than think about others. Sometimes I can do more.

You have a lot to be proud of. You prevailed in spite of a system stacked against you. We stayed married for over 45 years, till my husband passed away. Having each other was the best remedy for a lot of struggle.

[PatSeg]

55. Mostly, I felt like I survived

and just barely. My grown children did turn out to be great people though, so I have that.

That is wonderful that you were married for 45 years. I am always in awe of people who stay together for a long time. It really does help when you can share the burdens.

[Marthe48]

57. Our kids are great too

There are so many ways to get through this life. I think that whether we choose, or just do what people do, that if anyone needs help, if their kids need help, it should be easy to get, with no shame attached. People have built in instincts to have children, sometimes in spite of circumstances. Illness and accidents happen. So does aging. Jesus said the poor in spirit are always with us. I take that to mean people who for whatever reason, can't make it in this world. Republicans might want more bang for their buck by making people on Medicaid work, but not everyone is capable, many are already working at full capacity aiding their loved ones, and there are so many people damaged by drugs or violence. repukes don't want to understand that. They don't see humans in all their range of emotion, ability, courage and despair. They see rivals to resources and if repukes have to share, they are going to make the unfortunate pay with shame. They are cruel.

[PatSeg]

58. It is the the mindless cruelty that gets to me

I remember when I came to the realization that I had a right to exist and didn't always have to justify that existence in some material or monetary way and didn't have to hide in the shadows as somehow unworthy and disposable.

I guess some people can't think beyond what is right in front of their face. Seeing someone less fortunate than them makes them uncomfortable and afraid, so they blame the victim. Of course, I've seen conservatives fall on hard times and even then, they often don't get it. Those "other" people are lazy freeloaders, but THEY are entitled to the help they seek. Empathy just does not come naturally to some people.

[Marthe48]

59. I have conservative relatives

and the relatives who aren't financially secure scream about social programs as much as the secure ones. And neither want to pay taxes. I think a lot of people confuse anger with assertiveness.

[PatSeg]

63. And in the end,

it often just comes down to selfishness. Oddly enough, many of these "I've got mine" conservatives are also church-going Christians. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

[The Wizard]

33. Putting more people in the job market

lowers wages by creating a demand for employment, thus allowing employers to pay less for labor. It's always about exploiting the working class for the benefit of the bribing class.

[Geechie]

37. Lucky Ducky nails it every time

[link:https://thenib.com/lucky-ducky-in-state-of-denial-1dc4e5aa041b|

[KY_EnviroGuy]

38. Should be on front page of WaPo and NYT, not Esquire.

It's no wonder these folk's story is not heard.

This breaks my heart, along with those in my personal circle that are experiencing similar cruelty..........

[JCMach1]

39. The red tape is horrific in most States and often

Requires you to file new paperwork every 3 months. It's an intentionally cruel shitshow

[Honeycombe8]

41. This is shameful. It breaks my heart.

This woman's situation is exactly what Medicaid was created for.

[area51]

43. Damn it

We need comprehensive Medicare for All right now!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

56. bonuses paid on Wall St are more than all min wages paid

Lump all the minimum wage earners together and they received about half as much as just the bonuses paid to Wall Streeters. This is insane.