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pecuniumI am suffering from the strange sense of abused/ashamed, silly, and angry.
About six weeks ago I shucked foolish pride and applied for food stamps. A about the beginning of Sept. they sent me a letter with an appointment date; today. I collected the various documents to prove that I was, in fact, poor; which was when I saw they had me being interviewed about Medi-Cal. Not only did I not apply for Medi-Cal, I am not eligible (because I am, for the same reaons I was applying for food stamps, completely covered by the VA).
So, at five minutes past eight I called my case worker and she said that wasn't a problem, she'd fix the coding, come in.
So I did. Saw the man at the desk, called her office, told her machine I was there. She came out, about the time my app't was scheduled, and told me they were still working on the food stamps vs. Medi-Cal issue.
About half an hour, and a couple more reassurances, they noticed what I'd not known when I filled out the application. East Palo Alto (where I live) is in San Mateo Cty. I'd applied in Santa Clara. No good. The money comes from the state, but the counties administer it, so my application wasn't valid.
I trundled my (more than a trifle disappointed/frustrated) self to the San Mateo Office, tolerably sure that by the time any benefits were being decided, the GI Bill would have arrived and I'd be collecting enough money that I'd be denied (because this go round has taken something like seven weeks).
But I filled it out, and waited around and got called back (which hadn't happened in Santa Clara; the San Mateo office was much quieter, and less haunted by despair and hopelessness, but I digress).
He's asking me questions (why I'd waited so long, etc.), and it seems I am going to get a fast turnaround grant (they can give you aid in as little as three days...), when I said I was in school.
Oops. Seems going to school, and being unemployed, makes one ineligble. One has to be available for full-time work, and a student is presumptively unable.
The only way around it is to have a job, which pays one a weekly wage equal to 20 hours of the federal minumum wage. The more time I spend at the margins of the system, the more I appreciate the parctical ways in which the poor are forced to stay poor. "Why don't they go to school, and improve themselves?"
Because if they do, they starve.
About six weeks ago I shucked foolish pride and applied for food stamps. A about the beginning of Sept. they sent me a letter with an appointment date; today. I collected the various documents to prove that I was, in fact, poor; which was when I saw they had me being interviewed about Medi-Cal. Not only did I not apply for Medi-Cal, I am not eligible (because I am, for the same reaons I was applying for food stamps, completely covered by the VA).
So, at five minutes past eight I called my case worker and she said that wasn't a problem, she'd fix the coding, come in.
So I did. Saw the man at the desk, called her office, told her machine I was there. She came out, about the time my app't was scheduled, and told me they were still working on the food stamps vs. Medi-Cal issue.
About half an hour, and a couple more reassurances, they noticed what I'd not known when I filled out the application. East Palo Alto (where I live) is in San Mateo Cty. I'd applied in Santa Clara. No good. The money comes from the state, but the counties administer it, so my application wasn't valid.
I trundled my (more than a trifle disappointed/frustrated) self to the San Mateo Office, tolerably sure that by the time any benefits were being decided, the GI Bill would have arrived and I'd be collecting enough money that I'd be denied (because this go round has taken something like seven weeks).
But I filled it out, and waited around and got called back (which hadn't happened in Santa Clara; the San Mateo office was much quieter, and less haunted by despair and hopelessness, but I digress).
He's asking me questions (why I'd waited so long, etc.), and it seems I am going to get a fast turnaround grant (they can give you aid in as little as three days...), when I said I was in school.
Oops. Seems going to school, and being unemployed, makes one ineligble. One has to be available for full-time work, and a student is presumptively unable.
The only way around it is to have a job, which pays one a weekly wage equal to 20 hours of the federal minumum wage. The more time I spend at the margins of the system, the more I appreciate the parctical ways in which the poor are forced to stay poor. "Why don't they go to school, and improve themselves?"
Because if they do, they starve.
