I provide for a family of 5, and in my state to qualify for Medicaid you must make less than $3,350, and to qualify for Food Stamps I must make less than $3,100. At one point I was making about $3000 a month ($40,000 Salary), so I was still covered for Medicaid. I then applied to a job making more money, and I realized that I had to make $1000 more a month just to cover the added expense of paying for insurance. I ended up being offered $52,000 a year, but if it was only $50,000 a year it would have been better for me to ask for $40,000 a year instead so that I wouldn't end up being worse off financially in the end.
So, yeah. I'd discovered a gap of about $12,000 that I would need in order to provide for my family without government assistance. It's like this big chasm that we had to jump across, and an attempt just a little short would have dumped us into a rough spot. We made it across and have been trying to stay on the other side so that we have the potential to increase our income instead of having to restrict it.
I've recently lost my job, so we've been deposited back on the other side of the chasm. I work for myself now and I'm in a position where I either have to make enough to put us back on the other side of the chasm or turn down work so that I can keep us on the safe side.
(I know that ideally, the best thing we can do is pay down expenses to shrink the gap and continue to increase income. Working on that. It's hard when I'm doing my best just to keep up with making enough to cover expenses for a growing family and haven't been able to throw a lot at debt yet. We've been paying things down, but new expenses come up like paying for a minivan to hold our three kids.)
Anyone know if there is a name for this? I just thought it was an interesting situation that many other families may be in.
Submitted August 08, 2018 at 10:32AM by SilasOtoko https://ift.tt/2vSGOdI
