This is the conclusion Stacey's story, which is a part of a three-part series called "The Health/Wealth Gap".
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| Stacey in Philadelphia |
Stacy can hear the distant gun shots as she sits in the
living room of her home in the Philadelphia neighborhood she grew up in. The police sirens echo in the dark
night. As a single mom, she keeps her 2
boys close. Cleats and sports
paraphernalia are in the hall. They are
the only luxury in the budget for the boys.
The free sports programs keep them off the street. Nursing textbooks for Stacy’s bachelor’s
degree program are strewn about the floor of this home she now owns. She is prideful of being the first homeowner
in her family, but she is determined that life can offer better.
Each day Stacy goes to her job caring for a terminally ill
child. Changing G-tubes, Oxygen, trachea
care, and vents are a part of her daily routine. It’s October, usually her patient gets sick
and ends up in the hospital. Fortunately
for him and Stacy this year he is able to be managed at home. Stacy wouldn’t get paid if he wasn’t. Stacy makes $33,000 a year as an in-home
Registered Nurse in Philadelphia. She is
paid hourly with no steady schedule. She
does not have sick time or personal days.
To get any personal days she has to work 2000 hours (almost 1
year). Stacy, an educated Registered
Nurse who cares for terminally ill children also does not have health
insurance.
While she is offered health insurance by her employer, they
do not contribute and she simply cannot afford the $650 a month for the family,
or 30% of her income. After the
mortgage, electric, water and groceries it is financially impossible. Under the shadow of this financial reality,
Stacy rubs her sore joints. She has
Lupus, an autoimmune condition like her mother.
The cycle never broke.
The demons that haunted Stacy in childhood hover. They torment and crawl into every crevice of
her being and refuse to leave. Why won’t
they go away? Like her parents before
her, she did what she was supposed to do, but the demons of poverty refuse to
leave.
The reality that lack of health insurance is synonymous with
poverty is evident. However, what is the
possibility that children can break out of the cycle of poverty? A report from the Congressional Budget Office
states that between 1979-2004, roughly the timeline of Stacy’s story, the
poorest one-fifth of Americans saw their income rise 9%, the wealthiest
one-fifth saw their income rise 69% and the top 1% saw their income rise
176%. As economic inequality has grown,
so has the inability for intergenerational social mobility.[1] According to a 2010 OECD report, social
mobility between generations is dramatically lower in the United States
compared to other developed countries.[2]
While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gives
hope to the working poor because they can now access healthcare on the individual exchanges with premium tax credits, we are
still left with the question about prosperity.
Are we really the land of opportunity?
Do we really live in a society that rewards its citizens for their
efforts and values them for their contributions? Does the American Dream really exist?
[1]
Sawhill, I., Morton, J., “Economic Mobility:
Is the American Dream Live and Well?”
Economic Mobility Project.
[2]
Economic Policy Reforms: Going for
Growth. A family Affair:
Intergenerational Social Mobility Across OECD Countries. 2010
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