If you are disabled, low-income wage earner, low-income senior and you live in one of the GOP-controlled states (Florida for example) don't expect to get much help from Department of Children and Families. Now that they've converted their application process to being internet based there isn't any human involvement from the start.
Example:
You are disabled, you pay $400 a month for a room, you get $778 in SSDI, take away from that $778 the Medicare Part B premium of $100.00 (they round up to next dollar amount) it costs you about $150 a month for your share of medical expenses (20% Medicare doesn't pay) and you go online to apply for SNAP, and Medicaid (to help cover the $150 of the 20%) What do you get? $36.00 SNAP and a $576 share the cost Medicaid, but they do cover the $100 of your Part B cost so you'll receive your full SSDI payment.
What does this mean? That you are supposed to be able to pay 400 for shelter and all of your Medicare 20% co-pay on your own.
So let's break it down.
778-400-150+36=264 so you have $264 per month to buy cleaning products, clothing, personal hygiene products, and any additional food you need, etc.
So what can you get for $36 in FS to live on? A gallon of milk costs about $4 (you might be able to get a gallon to last a week) so that's $16 a month of it. A loaf of bread about $2 (you'll probably need 4 loaves for the month) so that's another $8 of it, leaving you with $12, you can get a jar of cheap peanut butter for about $3 and maybe a jar of jam or jelly for $3 leaving you with $6 for anything else you can find cheap enough, you could buy 6 $1 TV dinners with that or 6 $1 pot pies so you're supposed to live on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, 16 glasses of milk a week, and break it up with either a TV dinner or a pot pie. So 6 days out of 30 you can have a mini meal at dinner.
Now the current GOP wants to cut funding for the SNAP program, so will that $36 go down? How can they in all reality expect these people live on what they receive? At least they could make it a little easier for those who do work, by helping with their health care needs. On average a visit to a Dr. in Florida costs $165.00 per visit, add to that the cost for any blood tests, x-rays, etc. and that $165.00 skyrockets to about $300.00 or more, if you need to see a specialist double the cost of that office visit, any special tests quadruple the overall out of pocket costs. Where does the GOP expect someone who works for $10.00 an hour or less pay for these costs if they get sick? Because Florida is a Right to Work State, business' more often than not pay at the maximum $12.00 per hour, the Wal-Marts, Publix, Targets and other retail stores pay about $9.00 an hour and most only hire part-time workers to avoid providing health care benefits, and God forbid you get ill and need to use the insurance at Wal-Mart because you'll lose your job. So tell me Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan how does your plan help these people?
