Thursday, November 16, 2006
Criminalizing Poverty
I received the renewal application for MinnesotaCare yesterday. The program works pretty well, except for a couple of things. One is the tone of the application. There are constant reminders that if you screw up the application and don't report every single cent and asset, you will be charged with fraud. (A $250,000 fine!) If you don't send in each and every proof for those assets, plus proof of citizenship, you will be dropped from the program. It says so under each item you have to report.
The second issue is the time requirement for notifying MinnesotaCare of changes. The application arrived yesterday and is due December 1. What's that, a couple weeks? To pull together birth certificates, bank statements, insurance statements, pay stubs, proof of insurance from employers, plus other miscellaneous proofs. If there is any kind of change within the year you are receiving MinnesotaCare, you are required to report that change within 10 days. TEN DAYS. Plus, you better remember what things MinnesotaCare requires you to report on within 10 days. (They don't give you any reminders with the monthly bill.) Don't know if that's 10 calendar days or 10 business days, but it seems to be 10 calendar days, in which case you can kiss a couple of weekend days goodbye, and any holidays that happen to fall within the time period. There is no way you're going to get ahold of a worker on weekends and holidays. Many people on MinnesotaCare fall into the category of working poor. If you work when the MinnesotaCare office is open, you'll have a devil of a time finding time within your day to call as well. The upshot is that you can easily play phone tag with a worker and not ever speak to someone within those 10 days.
What the tone and the unrealistic deadlines do is set up the feeling that the poor are criminals trying to take advantage of the system. In fact, it's almost as though the unrealistic deadline is an attempt to prove that the poor are criminals by setting them up to fail.
When the state comes up with these forms & rules, do they ever talk to poor people to find out what works for them? Or is that too much to ask? (I know, I know. We poor people are asking for a handout, so we should just shut up and take what we get.)
I'm not sure I have any suggestion to alleviate the tone of the forms, but I do have a simple solution for the deadline. Instead of making it 10 days, how about making it a billing cycle of 30 days? Would you expect business people to pay a bill in less tha 30 days? Why do we demand more of the poor? To remind people of the changes they need to report, MinnesotaCare can print a simple statement on their monthly bills listing the types of things people need to report. (Everything but this is now printed on the bills.)
I feel a letter to my legislators coming on.
The second issue is the time requirement for notifying MinnesotaCare of changes. The application arrived yesterday and is due December 1. What's that, a couple weeks? To pull together birth certificates, bank statements, insurance statements, pay stubs, proof of insurance from employers, plus other miscellaneous proofs. If there is any kind of change within the year you are receiving MinnesotaCare, you are required to report that change within 10 days. TEN DAYS. Plus, you better remember what things MinnesotaCare requires you to report on within 10 days. (They don't give you any reminders with the monthly bill.) Don't know if that's 10 calendar days or 10 business days, but it seems to be 10 calendar days, in which case you can kiss a couple of weekend days goodbye, and any holidays that happen to fall within the time period. There is no way you're going to get ahold of a worker on weekends and holidays. Many people on MinnesotaCare fall into the category of working poor. If you work when the MinnesotaCare office is open, you'll have a devil of a time finding time within your day to call as well. The upshot is that you can easily play phone tag with a worker and not ever speak to someone within those 10 days.
What the tone and the unrealistic deadlines do is set up the feeling that the poor are criminals trying to take advantage of the system. In fact, it's almost as though the unrealistic deadline is an attempt to prove that the poor are criminals by setting them up to fail.
When the state comes up with these forms & rules, do they ever talk to poor people to find out what works for them? Or is that too much to ask? (I know, I know. We poor people are asking for a handout, so we should just shut up and take what we get.)
I'm not sure I have any suggestion to alleviate the tone of the forms, but I do have a simple solution for the deadline. Instead of making it 10 days, how about making it a billing cycle of 30 days? Would you expect business people to pay a bill in less tha 30 days? Why do we demand more of the poor? To remind people of the changes they need to report, MinnesotaCare can print a simple statement on their monthly bills listing the types of things people need to report. (Everything but this is now printed on the bills.)
I feel a letter to my legislators coming on.
Labels: criminals, deadline, healthcare, minnesotacare, poor
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Gas Company Screw Job
Our natural gas company offers its customers a payment plan called the Budget Plan, in which the customer pays the same fee every month, rather than pay large gas bills in the winter and small ones in the summer. This is most helpful to customers who are less well off and can't necessarily afford winter bills that run hundreds of dollars. Our Budget Plan bill is currently $87 per month. The Budget Plan worked fine for us each of the 15 years we'd been on it. Every August, we'd have a complete break from paying a gas bill because our Budget Plan was enough to pay for the other eleven months. The same would've happened this year, except that the gas company changed its payment policies. Come this past August,one of those policy changes became very apparent. Now, even though we still had a credit, we had to pay the monthly amount in August. No break from the gas bill. I called to complain, but my protest fell on deaf ears.
Think about this. If, every year in August for the past 15 years we've had a credit, then it stands to reason that we'll have a credit next August, as well. And the August after that, and the August after that. Exactly what is the gas company doing with all that extra money they're collecting? It's a sure bet they're putting it to work by investing it. Making money off our money.
But, it gets even better. The last couple of years, the gas company has sent us an offer for a new type of payment plan called the No Surprise Bill. Verbatim, here's the offer:
"If you enroll, you agree to pay your No Surprise Bill amount each month for 12 months starting this December. This amount would cover all of your gas charges. Even when natural gas prices change and weather conditions cause your gas use to change, your No Surprise Bill amount WILL NOT change. At the end of the program year, gas price and usage related balances WILL NOT be carried forward so you could pay more or less under the No Surprise Bill than you would with other billing options, including the Budget Plan, which use fluctuating natural gas prices and actual gas use."
Here's the kicker: Our No Surprise Bill amount is set at $113.45. Hmmm. Let me see . . . I'm supposed to voluntarily pay the gas company even more money than I already do so they can invest it and make their stockholders happy? I don't think so.
Do you think most of the stockholders are using these payment plans? Oh, wait, silly me! Of course not! It''s easier to screw the poor little guy.
Think about this. If, every year in August for the past 15 years we've had a credit, then it stands to reason that we'll have a credit next August, as well. And the August after that, and the August after that. Exactly what is the gas company doing with all that extra money they're collecting? It's a sure bet they're putting it to work by investing it. Making money off our money.
But, it gets even better. The last couple of years, the gas company has sent us an offer for a new type of payment plan called the No Surprise Bill. Verbatim, here's the offer:
"If you enroll, you agree to pay your No Surprise Bill amount each month for 12 months starting this December. This amount would cover all of your gas charges. Even when natural gas prices change and weather conditions cause your gas use to change, your No Surprise Bill amount WILL NOT change. At the end of the program year, gas price and usage related balances WILL NOT be carried forward so you could pay more or less under the No Surprise Bill than you would with other billing options, including the Budget Plan, which use fluctuating natural gas prices and actual gas use."
Here's the kicker: Our No Surprise Bill amount is set at $113.45. Hmmm. Let me see . . . I'm supposed to voluntarily pay the gas company even more money than I already do so they can invest it and make their stockholders happy? I don't think so.
Do you think most of the stockholders are using these payment plans? Oh, wait, silly me! Of course not! It''s easier to screw the poor little guy.
Labels: budget plan, gas company, poor, stockholders
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Cynical Me
Even before the program airs this coming week, everyone's all abuzz about Oprah's latest philanthropic gesture. She gave everyone in this show's audience $1,000 with a caveat. They couldn't spend it on themselves, but had to give it away to charity or to someone who needed it.
Turns out there was a Minnesota woman in the audience that day. Her story appeared on our local news. She decided to give her money to a woman on welfare, a laudable and noble gesture.
I've been on government programs (Medical Assistance, Minnesota Care, & Fuel Assistance) and I can tell you that they are structured so that people are not allowed to accumulate any money that might get them out of the situation they are in - that might just get them off of welfare and out of poverty. Every penny, every increase in wages, every gift, must be reported to Social Services. If an influx of cash reaches a particular threshold, an amount is deducted out of the welfare benefits. In other words, the welfare benefits go down.
Once the state gets word that this welfare mom was given $1,000 through Oprah's generosity, how much will they penalize the welfare mom? Cynical me. Even gift-giving in this country comes at a price.
Turns out there was a Minnesota woman in the audience that day. Her story appeared on our local news. She decided to give her money to a woman on welfare, a laudable and noble gesture.
I've been on government programs (Medical Assistance, Minnesota Care, & Fuel Assistance) and I can tell you that they are structured so that people are not allowed to accumulate any money that might get them out of the situation they are in - that might just get them off of welfare and out of poverty. Every penny, every increase in wages, every gift, must be reported to Social Services. If an influx of cash reaches a particular threshold, an amount is deducted out of the welfare benefits. In other words, the welfare benefits go down.
Once the state gets word that this welfare mom was given $1,000 through Oprah's generosity, how much will they penalize the welfare mom? Cynical me. Even gift-giving in this country comes at a price.
Labels: charity, minnesota, oprah, poor, poverty, welfare
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Noble Africa
Bono was on Oprah yesterday. He was touting a new initiative that will raise funds to fight AIDS in Africa. The initiative is called (RED) and it plays on America's unending materialism. By purchasing (RED) products (T-shirts, jeans, tennies, jackets, cellphones, iPods), Americans can feel good about themselves by knowing that approximately half the proceeds from each purchase go toward supplying AIDS medications to people in Africa.
If I sound a tinge cynical, it's not because I don't think the cause is worthy. Absolutely, it is. But, I'm not sure encouraging Americans to consume more is the best way to go about it. The T-shirts are cute and one of the pairs of Chuck Taylor tennis shoes available from Converse (one of the sponsors of the cause) is made of African mud cloth. Bono said that much of the stuff is made in Africa, so people there are working toward their cure.
Here's my frustration: Why is it that practically the only images we ever see of Africa are of bone-crushing poverty, starvation, female genital mutilation, AIDS, or civil war? Why do we not see the people who are doing well? Where are this continent's leaders? Why are they not helping their own people? Where are Africa's success stories? Surely, these exist.
There's an imbalance here and it does not bode well for Africa. As the situation sits, Africa is pitied by the world because we rarely hear the positives about the continent. Most of the good stories come when some foreigner rushes in and gives a particular African country or cause monetary assistance, or adopts a child. The continent has been presented as lowly and incapable of helping itself. We sling around the term "third-world country" with impunity in reference to Africa. The continent is the world's charity case, and it's very easy for well-off people to see charity cases as not being equal. And, that's the problem with the (RED) campaign. It reinforces our belief that Africa is not equal to America. As we buy, we think, "Oh, those poor people!" In (RED)'s defense, the manifesto says this is not about charity, but that message can't easily be over-ridden by years of bad press.
The world needs to start paying as much attention to Africa's success stories as it does to its frailties. Who hasn't heard of Nelson Mandela and the overthrow of Apartheid by native South Africans? More positive stories such as these will help to alleviate the perceived inequalities between Africa and the rest of the world. When we start thinking of Africa as noble and dignified, we can purchase our (RED) goods without a simpering pity, but with a sense of fair exchange among the world's compatriots.
As I wrote this piece, it crossed my mind that perhaps I've been ill-informed, that I've missed the good news about Africa, so I googled "africa good news" and was rewarded with an article from the Christian Science Monitor dated May26, 2005. It's called, "Africans ask: 'Why isn't anyone telling the good news?'" I could not have asked for a more relevant article. As the article is over a year old, there's still work to be done in boosting Africa's image.
If I sound a tinge cynical, it's not because I don't think the cause is worthy. Absolutely, it is. But, I'm not sure encouraging Americans to consume more is the best way to go about it. The T-shirts are cute and one of the pairs of Chuck Taylor tennis shoes available from Converse (one of the sponsors of the cause) is made of African mud cloth. Bono said that much of the stuff is made in Africa, so people there are working toward their cure.
Here's my frustration: Why is it that practically the only images we ever see of Africa are of bone-crushing poverty, starvation, female genital mutilation, AIDS, or civil war? Why do we not see the people who are doing well? Where are this continent's leaders? Why are they not helping their own people? Where are Africa's success stories? Surely, these exist.
There's an imbalance here and it does not bode well for Africa. As the situation sits, Africa is pitied by the world because we rarely hear the positives about the continent. Most of the good stories come when some foreigner rushes in and gives a particular African country or cause monetary assistance, or adopts a child. The continent has been presented as lowly and incapable of helping itself. We sling around the term "third-world country" with impunity in reference to Africa. The continent is the world's charity case, and it's very easy for well-off people to see charity cases as not being equal. And, that's the problem with the (RED) campaign. It reinforces our belief that Africa is not equal to America. As we buy, we think, "Oh, those poor people!" In (RED)'s defense, the manifesto says this is not about charity, but that message can't easily be over-ridden by years of bad press.
The world needs to start paying as much attention to Africa's success stories as it does to its frailties. Who hasn't heard of Nelson Mandela and the overthrow of Apartheid by native South Africans? More positive stories such as these will help to alleviate the perceived inequalities between Africa and the rest of the world. When we start thinking of Africa as noble and dignified, we can purchase our (RED) goods without a simpering pity, but with a sense of fair exchange among the world's compatriots.
As I wrote this piece, it crossed my mind that perhaps I've been ill-informed, that I've missed the good news about Africa, so I googled "africa good news" and was rewarded with an article from the Christian Science Monitor dated May26, 2005. It's called, "Africans ask: 'Why isn't anyone telling the good news?'" I could not have asked for a more relevant article. As the article is over a year old, there's still work to be done in boosting Africa's image.
Labels: africa, aids, bono, clothing, oprah, poor, red
