First, the standard disclaimer: the following is not written in my capacity as a Department of Human Services staffer.
States have a lot of freedom to administer public benefits programs like Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This extends to the application and eligibility determination process. Some states make applying for benefits a bureaucratic hassle, but other states, like Georgia, serve up a heaping pile of humiliation to anyone seeking assistance. Applicants are forced to answer questions about their personal lives, falsely informed that they don’t qualify for benefits, and generally made to feel like they’re committing a crime just by showing up at the door.
Not that we’re any more inclined to be any more enlightened up here in Yankee territory. One bill making the rounds at the state legislature would prevent anyone who had ever been convicted of a violent crime from receiving certain types of state-funded assistance, including health care. So if you have a mental illness and ended up with a battery conviction, you might not be able get the meds that might help you stay out of jail in the future.
It’s funny. One can be considered middle-class for making $30,000 or $300,000. The gap between $30,000 and nothing is much less substantial in terms of math, but it’s a yawning chasm in terms of our own prejudices.
