October 2, 2009

YM Blog: Unemployed and Lucky

Posted by Ami Patel at 10:20AM

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

(This post is part of the Youth Media Blog-a-thon on Healthcare.)

I am 25 years old, have moved back into my childhood home, and am going to hit my four-month unemployment mark. And I am lucky.

How?

Because unlike many of my peers who are facing similar situations, I have been taken back in by my parents (thanks mom and pops!), which means I have been fortunate enough to be financially freed from using my unemployment checks on rent and food. And, since I do not have a family of my own to take care of, I am not perpetually juggling my finances to provide for others. Instead, I can use that money to pay for a health insurance plan, an expenditure that hopefully will help me remain healthy and provide access to facilities and resources when I'm not feeling my healthiest.

Like I said, I'm lucky. A lot of people in my hometown aren't.

My parents have made their home in Corona, part of the Inland Empire in Southern California. It's a varied region made up of Riverside County and San Bernardino County, ranging from the working class to the upper middle class, with quite a few of the bourgeoisie million-dollar homes way up in the fancy pants isolated hills.

It's also where a lot of young families have attempted to find financial stability and home-ownership -- until the housing foreclosure crisis hit, and the Inland Empire topped the nation's list of highest foreclosure rates, with one in 43 homes foreclosed in 2007.

I drive around stretches of streets in downtown Riverside where small businesses are closed and collecting dust, and "for sale" signs litter barely lived-in homes.

Add to that the notoriously high unemployment rate of 14.3 percent in July 2009, and the American dream that new immigrants and families of color are trying to find in the Inland Empire fades into the pollutant-filled desert sky.

That's why it's no surprise that Riverside County's Medically Indigent Services Program (MISP), designed to provide healthcare to families of 21- to 64-year-olds that don't qualify for Medi-Cal, has more than doubled in the last four years.

According to a local news report:

"[Riverside County Public] Hospital CEO Doug Bagley said the eligibility increase is another sign of the Inland area's troubled economy and its effects on residents, who have lost jobs and health insurance. People earning less than 200 percent of federal poverty level qualify for the program. So, an adult in a family of four earning less than $44,100 annually could be eligible."

And yet the state of California is mired in a budget crisis and Governor Schwarzenegger is freely cutting necessary social services to close the $26 billion budget gap, which means programs like Riverside County's MISP are already in danger of having their funding taken away, leaving thousands of residents without even the minimal health access they had.

So, even when there are attempts at public programs for affordable healthcare services, such as MISP here in my home town, it's heartbreaking to acknowledge these programs are rarely funded at times when they're relied on the most. That's why there needs to be healthcare reform, which will guarantee that health is a top priority for people who have been hit the hardest by the economic downward spiral of the past few years.

There are so many other issues flooding the anxiety-ridden minds of families these days. Being able to access healthcare facilities without further sinking into financial ruin should not be added to that list. Let's ensure that this time, there will sustainable healthcare reform that invests in our communities and families.