This Bomb Cyclone & My Life of Forced Poverty

Image by Mitodru Ghosh. From Unsplash.

​We’re having a good ‘ol rain in Sacramento & it’s highlighting just how poor I am.

When it’s dry I sometimes forget: my house would fall apart within months if it rained like this regularly.

And I can’t fix my house because, on SSDI in California, I can’t save money or I lose Medicaid.

In California, I have free Medicaid (supplemental to Medicare) & the state pays my Medicare premium due to my SSDI level of poverty.

If I have >$2k, I suddenly lose that version of Medicaid & get pushed into a version of Medicaid that would take ~half my income each month.

For folks on SSDI, Medicare is vital. But so is Medicaid, for many.Including me.

Medicaid covers my most expensive medications, which keep me alive. By which I mean life wouldn’t be worth living without them.

Medicaid is vital for me.

__________

Also, disabled people who become homeowners (me!) often must buy substandard, older homes needing repairs, due to poverty.

I bought mine as-is. It needs $50k in work.

We can’t repair our homes because we aren’t allowed to save money, or else we lose benefits that keep us alive.