Mom Earning $60K A Year Can’t Afford Services Her Daughter Needs Because She Makes Too Much Money
It's an unfortunate reality for countless Americans.
Paulik | Shutterstock In today's world, there are certainly enough financial problems to go around. Few have avoided being touched by the economic hardships that have become common.
Sometimes, these struggles come in forms you would not expect. For example, you would not expect someone making enough money to live off of to be labeled as struggling. But for one woman, that’s exactly what happened, and it impacted her daughter's health and well-being.
A mom on TikTok complained through tears that she was not able to afford the medical services her daughter needed, but she didn’t qualify to receive assistance.
One mom didn’t make enough money to pay for the medical treatment her daughter needed but made too much money to qualify for government assistance.
TikTok content creator Stephanie explained why she couldn’t get her daughter the help that she needed.
“I feel like only in America can you need medical assistance that you can’t afford to get, and in order to get government help, you have to make under a certain amount,” she said.
“So, if you’re someone who, like, makes $60,000 a year,” she said, pointing at herself, “you don’t qualify for any [expletive] help, but you can’t actually afford to get your child the services that they [expletive] need.”
“But,” she countered, “if I quit my job and I go work for McDonald’s, I can live off the government, and then she can have the help that she needs?”
“Make it make sense,” she pleaded. “Make it make sense.”
In the caption of the video, Stephanie wrote, “You can call it crying, but to me, it’s straight-up rage in liquid form. I know I’m not alone.”
The mom wasn't alone in her rage against the system that prohibited her daughter from getting the medical care she required.
Many fellow TikTok users commented on Stephanie’s video to commiserate with her and share that they understood how she was feeling.
“You are not alone!” one person insisted. “The system is sick and twisted in so, so many ways.”
“Too rich to be poor, too poor to be rich,” another said.
“I work for McDonald’s, and even I make too much,” a third person said. “I know it’s ridiculous.”
Based on these and other comments, Stephanie was certainly not the only one who understood what it meant to be in that frustrating in-between state where you make too much money for help but not enough to pay for something.
Nearly all forms of government assistance include some kind of income limit or rules.
Stephanie did not share the exact medical services her daughter needed, nor did she share what government assistance would be involved. Because of that, we can only speculate as to the specifics.
For an example of a medical service that can have government assistance applied, one could look at Medicaid. The income requirements for Medicaid vary by state, but for a family of two, income cannot exceed $28,208 a year in the state of California.
In this example, Stephanie would not qualify for Medicaid benefits because of her income. But there could also be something preventing her from being able to pay for medical insurance or high out-of-pocket medical expenses.
The government offers many forms of assistance, but not everyone qualifies.
There are many government assistance programs in place to help people. U.S. News and World Report listed a total of 15 categories of programs, including everything from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to unemployment insurance to “free tax help.”
However, most of these programs have strict rules you must follow to qualify, including how much money you can make. If someone makes above the income limit, there is typically no wiggle room, even if that person cannot afford the services on their own without the assistance.
This is a difficult side effect of government assistance programs that many people run into problems with. Stephanie, unfortunately, is one of those people.
What's truly heartbreaking is that her daughter pays the price.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.