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A Look at Programs for Single Mothers Who Need Assistance

Mother and baby

Image by ECohen via Flickr

There are over 85 million single mothers across the nation. Many government programs are in place to help give an expectant mother, or single parent, help in their daily lives. Here is an overview of the types of programs available.

Housing assistance is invaluable to those who benefit from it. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been helping low-income families find substantial housing for many decades. Established in 1965, HUD also lends a hand to the elderly and persons with disabilities. Single mothers may qualify for HUD’s FHA assistance when looking to buy a home. The voucher program available to aid with finding a safe place to rent.

WIC is a successful federal program that assures eligible mothers are able to offer nutrition and health care to themselves and their children. The Food and Nutrition Service, a part of the USDA, provides milk, cheese, tofu and more to low-income women who are pregnant, breastfeeding and have children under the age of five.  Mothers who qualify are given an EBT card compatible with retail point-of-sale systems, to buy from a list of items that are WIC approved. The WIC program is one of the most cost-effective government programs in effect.

Single mothers who wish to further their education may also find programs that help with the price tag of school. The Pell grant is an example of a program that eases the financial headache of college tuition. It can help give a person with the means to get their first bachelor’s degree.

 

 

 

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Empowered Citizens

The government has been over budget for years. This has led to a slew of problems, all of which could gather to create long-running problems for this great country. By this point, following a deep recession set off by a housing market crash that was impossible to miss, most people are more aware than ever before that overspending is a major problem. Generally, people have looked beyond their usual direct tv days and became more aware about the economy. But with the government continuing to spend freely, it seems as if politicians haven’t learned to tighten the spending reins in quite the same way as the average citizen.

This has led to changes on many fronts. The Tea Party has been born recently, seemingly created out of thin air by people dissatisfied with how the government has been being run. Closer to home, each person seems to pay a bit more attention to what the political leaders propose. This evidenced itself in the last election cycle, in which many more incumbents than average were defeated. People are far more interested in a fresh idea that may or may not work than they are in ones that merely plod on, following a tried and true theme. It’s the tried and true method that seems to have led to the country’s problems, so anything fresh is granted more than average leeway.

It’s up to each citizen to empower themselves in the voting process to make their voices heard. Unlike politicians who seem largely deaf to the concerns of the future as contrasted with those of today – and the next electoral cycle – most people care deeply about the direction the country heads over the next twenty years. In order to do their part, each person needs to vote!

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Personal Versus Public Debt

Not a day goes by that the present state of the economy isn’t at the forefront of business conversation. Typically humming along at pre-determined, aimed for numerical targets, it has missed ‘the numbers’ for several years running. Between the housing market crash, and the resultant financial turmoil that revealed shady lending practices at nearly every lending institution, the economy hasn’t returned to its old smoothly running ways. And there is real debate over when, or even whether, it will ever do so. Many flaws inside the system have been revealed, and those flaws create an environment in which it’s hard for a nation to thrive.

Take for example, the national debt. It’s enough to cripple this country, should our debtors come calling, demanding the payments which are rightfully theirs. Adding the numbers up, it appears that America is broke, having borrowed and spent simultaneously to such a degree that the debt owed per citizen is staggering. And that’s just the national debt.

Personal debts have risen to a larger degree than ever before in our nation’s history. Where typically Americans have been savers, putting away money for that time in the future when they might need it, that trend erased itself during the last decade. On the whole, Americans now spend more than they earn. This has created a double whammy of debt inside the country, best labelled personal and public. While each person might tighten their own spending belt in order to pay off their personal debts, there has been little of the same governmental tightening. The government isn’t even meeting the interest payments on its debt, which is why the debt continues to grow so rapidly. Thus, the economy continues to suffer.  There are accredited online colleges provides much better understanding on personal and public debuts.

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The National Debt Crisis to Come

With the nation’s deficit continuing its ever larger upward spiral, it’s easy to wonder what will become of this great nation in time. As a group, the country has overspent to such a large extent, for such a large amount of time, that it owes far more than it produces in a year. Represented by the government bond market, the total amount of funds owed are astonishing to the uninitiated. Bonds represent money that was borrowed with promises to pay backing the borrowing. They’ve grown steadily for decades, as the collective United States consumer mentality has used up more than it has produced. As spending has ruled the, ahem, decades, those promises to pay back the borrowings haven’t resulted in action.

Unfortunately, a side product of a seemingly healthy bond market is that debt rarely gets paid off, or even paid down. Typically, it is rolled over into a new bond offering. That means that old promises to return the borrowed money are nullified, and replaced by fresh promises. This cycle seems as if it could continue indefinitely, and certainly it looks like the nation’s fiscal leaders have tried this route. The unfortunate truth is that the situation has continued unchecked for so long now that simple productivity seems unlikely to be able to ever repay the full amount of American debt.

With literally trillions owed – Americans owe the Chinese over 1.2 trillion dollars alone – this is a problem that, like disappearing oil, will require drastic changes to accommodate. Change hurts in most cases, but in this case, it could hurt worse than anyone anticipates. The ultimate solutions could easily bankrupt the country, lead to cataclysmic economic collapse (which would probably look similar, if slightly different), or, depending on one’s viewpoint, look even worse than either of those. Ultimately, Americans might have to sell off land, even entire states, to pay their debts.

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The Economy Will Make a Move, Even if People Don’t

The economy continues to trundle along, seeming to neither improve nor come to any devastating conclusions. The job market seems to have picked up – a glance at the advertisements soliciting workers can offer concrete evidence of this – but questions remain about whether that’s a nationwide phenomenon. With jobs being created in states with slightly more vibrant economies, those whose fiscal numbers continue to lag have been somewhat masked. Although overall unemployment remains at decades long highs, there are lots of jobs available to those willing to work.

Still, with large portions of the country’s populace still reeling from the first major economic shock to hit the country in generations, far larger than typical numbers of people don’t wish to take a job that’s beneath their training. By now used to receiving unemployment benefits, and with the usual stigma that’s attached to this process all but gone, many are content to wait for their ‘perfect’ job to show up on their doorstep.

However, employers have shown a tendency to look past those who’ve taken a break from work when making their hiring decisions. This leads to a vicious circle in which formerly skilled workers are being left behind as they’re replaced by younger workers willing to work for a smaller initial paycheck. The longer that the formerly employed remain out of a job, the more their skill sets become obsolete. In the modern economy, new programs and habits are being implemented in corporations at ever faster rates of speed. So left behind, the choices left to these formerly bright stars hoping to continue to shine begin to slim at a rapid pace. Starting up their own business is an option, but that takes money and loads of motivation. The storyline for many presently unemployed people looks to remain grim as long as they maintain artificially high standards regarding where they will engage their skills.

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Preventative Health Care

T​he term “preventative health care” is gaining a great deal of attention in the public eye lately, especially with forthcoming changes to the American health care system on the horizon. The idea of prevention is becoming more important as we consider the actual costs of our health care in the current economic climate. Early detection is another concept that works hand in hand with prevention to help lower our overall costs for maintaining good health. For instance, any problem that can be identified early on will require much less in the form of treatment and medication overall. Most types of cancers are now completely treatable if identified in the beginning stages. For this reason, prevention and well-person screenings are gaining importance in almost all public and private health insurance providers.

Prevention is typically defined as the lifestyle and actions that one takes in order to avoid future health problems. Things like avoiding a high fat diet, including exercise in the daily routine and cutting out tobacco and alcohol will do much to ensure a healthier future for everyone. However, there are many other steps we can take to keep ourselves on the road to prevention. Some of the most important things we can do include receiving immunizations for common diseases, getting flu shots and completing genetic screening to identify potential hereditary problems. Doctors who understand the most likely dangers for your future health are much more equipped to help you avoid them.

Simple preventative measures include basic hygiene and hand washing, as well as wearing protective equipment when working with dangerous tools. Most accidents can also be prevented by checking equipment for damage, paying close attention and removing common hazards from the workspace. Tripping hazards should never be allowed to remain in place, especially near stairways or other dangerous areas. It is true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and so much more in terms of your good health.

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War in Iraq Hurts and Helps US Economy

There are two different schools of thought in the financial community concerning whether wars and other military actions hurt or help the U.S. economy. In truth, both sides have some valid considerations. Sometimes the  reactions of a nation include things that boost an economy. For instance, World War II, following the Great Depression, created a large number of jobs, boosted the industrial industry and many more citizens to work. The same can be said for some of what is happening today. Additionally, those who are enlisted in military reserve units must vacate full time jobs when they are called out to serve, creating job openings for others left here at home.

On the other side of the issue, our economy is taking a hit from the amount of money that must be spent on social programs and other related items. For instance, the Veteran’s Administration requires much more funding to help those who were injured or disabled during their tours of duty. The loss of lives also means the loss of a parent or bread winner for many American families, sending more of them to government assistance programs for aid. All of this government expenditure takes a toll on the taxes paid by those who remain at home and employed; more taxes taken from a paycheck means less money for families to spend in discretionary income.

There are other considerations that show how being involved in military actions overseas are hurting the economy at home. Our national debt continues to grow, because our resources are not able to keep up the pace of spending that a war of this length demands. The funds spent on helping those families negatively affected is not able to be invested in ideas that would have helped our economy and the larger community of our nation. There is little doubt that the damage to our economy has been done; the only question remaining is how much worse it will have to get.

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WIC for Healthy Kids

The acronym WIC actually stands for a much longer name: Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women and Infant Children. As the name implies, it is a program managed by the federal government’s Food and Drug Administration to help provide assistance to needy children and breastfeeding or pregnant mothers. WIC has been providing assistance to these individuals since the mid 1970s. Basically, those who qualify for other types of government aid like Food Stamps, Medicaid, or TANF automatically qualify for this program as well. The aid is typically distributed to women in the form of an electronic card, much like a debit card, that can be used in any grocery or supermarket electronic card reader. Alternatively, some states still issue checks that can only be issued for the purchase of certain food items.

Most people automatically think of milk and baby formula when they hear the term “WIC,” but the program is actually designed to provide much more. In addition to those basic nutritional needs, WIC also provides assistance for the purchase of many breakfast foods like juice, eggs and cheese, as well as other items like peanut butter and cheese. For those who are unable to drink normal cow’s milk, the program also applies to soy based products like soy milk and tofu for protein and calcium.

There are rules to the products that can be purchased by the WIC program. Those taking advantage of the benefit are required to purchase the least expensive brand of the product, typically a generic or store brand. In addition, there are limits to the quantities that can be purchased at any given time. Do to the use of electronic cards, much of the historical abuse of this assistance program has been eliminated. Recipients are no longer able to sell checks or vouchers for less than face value to those who do not qualify for the program, or who may have exhausted their benefits for a given period.

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Qualifying for Food Stamps

F​ood stamps are the currency of a federal assistance program for low income and other needy families. As the name suggests they are used to purchase food from any grocery or supermarket. Many other types of stores that also sell non-prepared food items will accept food stamps as a form of payment. Applications to apply for the food stamp program are available from your local social security office. Staff members there are able to help explain the program and eligibility requirements to you, as well as help you fill out the necessary forms and provide the backup documentation.

Adults between the ages of 18 and 60 will probably be required to register for a work program in order to qualify for food stamps, unless they are disabled or already currently employed. I​t is important for parents to understand that their children may qualify for the program, even if they as adults do not. These rules can be tricky and are best explained by a qualified federal employee. Generally, your income and the amount of resources that you have, otherwise known as your real assets, are the main variables in qualifying for food stamps.

Recent technologies also apply to the way benefits are distributed by government assistance offices, as well. Social security offices no longer issue paper “food stamps” to be used as currency; instead, qualifying individuals are issued a card that is used like a debit card in electronic readers. This has done much to combat abuse of the program, such as the selling of food stamps to other individuals for less than face value in order to receive the cash. Recipients of the food stamp program also have more privacy with this program, as others in line at the grocery store won’t know what method of payment the recipient is using. Removing the stigma from government assistance is a huge step forward in helping families in need.

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W​hat is Medicaid?

If you are like most Americans, you have probably heard of this government assistance but are unsure exactly what it means. What medical benefits are provided by Medicaid? Who qualifies for this assistance? The answers to these and other questions often vary by state, but there are some common guidelines available for all U.S. citizens. The federal government offers a website that will help you determine your eligibility by answering several questions. Briefly, Medicaid pays for preventative and corrective medical services and prescription medication.

Some of these questions include your age, marital status, number of children and whether or not you are pregnant. Other questions concern any disabilities you may have and your current employment status. It may be that your minor children qualify for Medicaid, even if you as an adult do not. It is important to understand that with this many variables, determining eligibility for Medicaid and other government assistance programs is a relatively complicated process. Most states have offices staffed with professionals who can help you with your application for aid.

Other instances that may determine eligibility for Medicaid include special needs individuals who are institutionalized, those who are drawing social security benefits due to loss of parent or spouse, elderly persons who reside in an assisted living facility and recipients of Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), even if those recipients may not otherwise qualify for Medicaid. Because there are so many different variables and rules for the eligibility and benefits of this assistance program, all individuals who have need or believe they may qualify are urged to contact the local social services office for their specific state and county. Counselors and staff members there are trained to help people complete the applications and understand the benefits to which they are entitled. You should not assume that unemployment or limited income automatically qualifies you, just as you should not assume that because you do have a job, you will not qualify.

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