Health & Fitness
A Study in Impossible Decisions – When a Strong Ethic is not Enough
An article written by Magan Kasner in response to Medicaid resolutions presented by Illinois lawmakers this past week and a recent survey conducted by the Salvation Army.
by Megan Kashner, Founder & CEO of Benevolent.net
This week, lawmakers in Illinois presented their proposed Medicaid reductions. In framing out these planned cuts, our state legislators faced impossible decisions – decreasing reimbursement rates for nursing homes, decreasing prescription coverage for seniors and our state’s disabled, and tightening eligibility restrictions for Medicaid. I can’t imagine having to make these decisions – none of them good.
Interestingly, millions of Americans know precisely what it’s like to have to make impossible decisions - decisions that hurt them and their families in the long run but are impossible to avoid in the short-term – every day. In a survey released by the Salvation Army this month, we learned that of the 1,004 Americans surveyed, 84% believed that it was “impossible to survive on your own” on minimum wage earnings.[i]
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This same study, however, shows us that 49% of the respondents believed that “A good work ethic is all you need to escape poverty.” These clearly contradictory beliefs come into clarity when we look at a family like Sierra’s (not her real name).
Sierra works as many hours as she can as an Assistant Manager at a shoe store but still makes only $22,000 per year. That’s far less than she needs to support and sustain her four children on her own. According to the federal guidelines for poverty, Sierra is about $4,000 below the poverty line. According to the Economic Policy Institute (a nonprofit, non-partisan think tank), Sierra is earning less than half of what it would take to manage in the Chicago area.[ii]
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Sierra’s kids do well in school and she’s immensely proud of them, but none of that has been enough to keep her children from being bullied, embarrassed and harassed because they never have new clothes. Perhaps one of the 49% who believed that a good work ethic was the key to escaping poverty would consider Sierra to be an exception to the rule – a low-income earner who has a good work ethic, works diligently to support her family, but still falls short. We know that Sierra is the rule, not the exception.
Sierra knows well the hard decisions faced in hard times and how no decision is a good one. She knows that the teasing her kids endure will get in the way of their academics, their happiness, and their self-esteem. She has no choice, however. If Sierra were to spend $400 on new clothes for her kids this year, she would fall short somewhere else – her rent, food, bills – and she has to set her priorities.
Thankfully for Sierra, eight generous donors came forward through a new Chicago-area startup nonprofit called Benevolent.net and contributed the funds necessary to buy Sierra’s kids new clothes this year. Sierra did her part to fulfill this connection and sent along photos of her kids’ new clothes to her donors with a note of deepest thanks.
Sierra lives so close to the edge that she has to deny her children new clothing just to make ends meet. Our state leaders have to deny some of our citizens prescription coverage, medical coverage, and quality of care just to make ends meet. These are impossible decisions and none will be improved in the short-term by an increase in work ethics or good intentions.
Julie Hamos, a central figure behind this month’s Medicaid reform proposals, has a long and celebrated history in our state of championing health care coverage for all. Today, she’s in the unfortunate position of having to make those impossible decisions, like Sierra, that result in someone getting hurt.
At Benevolent, we don’t have a solution to our state’s budgetary and Medicaid woes. We know full well that failure to cut our Medicaid spending this year will result in something else breaking somewhere else in our state’s battered budget. We do, however, have a way for each of us to step up and help someone like Sierra avoid the hurtful, impossible decisions that have no good outcome.
Megan Kashner, Founder & CEO of Benevolent.net, is a seasoned nonprofit leader with over 20 years of strategic management, community partnership building and organizational planning experience.
Recently launched, www.Benevolent.net is a nonprofit website that utilizes a social media model to connect people who face hurdles along their paths to stability with people who want to help. Unlike traditional giving, Benevolent rovides a platform for direct personal connection between individuals coupled with the security of a trusted validation process.
