Monday, December 8, 2008

You have 1 new message...

I have been living in anxiety for the past few weeks every time I see that darn blinking light! Our 500$ that we owe for medical has gone to collections and they are calling every couple of days. A kind of long story but Ill tell it anyhow!
Last year my hubby worked for another company and was making a couple of dollars more per hour which put us into a different tax bracket entirely.... that weird threshhold where you aren't considered low income anymore. The boss seemed promising and the wage put us in a much more comfy position... you know, not needing to worry if you eat an apple for a snack without doing the mental math of how many you have left until payday and if the kids will have a balance d diet if you eat that last carrot! The boss turned out to be very abusive to the people around him and put my partner into illegal positions. I could see him just fading away feeling so crappy every day. He ended up quitting and going to another company which is awesome but pays less... still makes more than most apprentaces without more schooling( we can't afford to get more right now). So the year goes by and we get a bill from med services for 70$ a month for our family. We have always been low income and have been covered previously. 70$ was a huge jump from 0$!! The thing is, we are making around $2,000 a month which is just borderline for us with the gluten free grocery budget and all. We lost most all of our child tax benefit being in the larger tax bracket last year as well as losing our 100$ daycare subsidy when my oldest turned 7. So in all we bring in around 550$ less a month than we did last year. eep!
I applied for a low income temporary assistance program . I sent in ouor budget and paystubs and everything showing that we have about 30 $ left after the basics( thinking that they wouldn't take my last 30$ right?!!! what if I needed a perscription or socks for one of the kids or something. Or maybe I could save that 30 $ all year and get half of the tires we need for the van right now!!!.... but a year from now!) I got back a letter in the mail saying that we were denied coverage... because we have a 270$ car loan a month. Any debt is considered to be an unacceptable expense. My hubby NEEDS a vehicle for work daily and a reliable one. This is not a new vehicle or anything close to that. This was a small loan for a used reliable vehicle. so loans aren't and acceptable expense right?... but guess what is? Insurance and gas costs for a second vehicle ( which we don't have) and CABLE!!!( which we dont have) etc etc etc. We don't go out or have any crazy vices or live beyond our means. We sacrifice those things that they consider to be acceptable expenses in order to have a reliable vehicle so my hubby can WORK!!!! I was pretty bummed and in tears the whole way from the post office. Technically our wage puts us into the low income bracket but we have to spend that wage in ways that they say are acceptable... like cable!
So now they are calling and I want to send it to arbitration or something. I am just praying that they dont freeze our account or garnish our wages this month. we rely on everything we have coming in now. We can re apply for assistance again as soon as we get our tax stubs in the new year. I pray they wait to take anyhthing that we have coming for tax returns or something!


Good news... someone on my hubbys jobsite is packing up his older sons lego set for the kiddos for Christmas!!! The older guys on the jobsites are all shaking thier heads these days watching the younger guys with families struggle. It used to be that one income would have been enough to support a family..... especially if you were somewhat frugal! You might even be able to save some money! It is a bummer to watch someone who is responsible and a really hard worker head into work every day and not be able to have the basics for thier family. I am so touched by those offers of kindness from the people around us... a toy here and a bag of hand me downs there. It helps so much.

Some days I just need a little rant.

2 comments:

meli said...

Hi, I could have cried at reading your post.our family had the same problem a few years ago I could have been writting about our situation.We did eventually get it worked out not having to pay the full amount.But my husband got our bc med accout flagged as I guess he asked too many questions.But what I wanted to say was is I have a son who is getting older and I have some lego bionicles and some magic treehouse books and some step into reading boy books if you would like, my email adress is benandmiss@hotmail.com

This Mama said...

Ok. I am trying to rack my brains here because I had a similar thing happen once. I do not think it is legal for them to garnish it just like that...I am so pissed off for you guys!!

Let me think out what I did and I will get back to you.