Anonymous wrote:I am not now, but I was for the past 5 years.
The last 3, I was working full-time, but I'm single with a kid and I was making less than $25K. Last year, I was unemployed for 3mo due to a move and I made $18K total. I got everything back, plus the EITC. The money helped me pay off debt and get back on my feet.
I also qualified for daycare assistance, WIC and my son qualified for Medicaid his 1st year and CHIP until I got my current job. I qualified for Medicaid during my pregnancy and immediately afterwards. Then I went 2yrs without insurance, which I'm paying for now as I left things untreated (mainly my teeth).
I'm white, raised in an UMC family, and I have a BA. I also made the mistake of marrying a deadbeat, although I wised up when DC was 8mo and divorced him. We lived in a very conservative area where jobs were scarce and didn't pay well.
In the past 18mo, I've more than doubled my income and I'll be paying income tax this year. I have no problem paying, I'm grateful there was a safety net and help when I needed it and I hope that others are able to get that hand-up that I received. I'll be voting for Obama in Nov.
Maybe you should have made better decisions with who you married and decided to have a child with.