NY health report: Poor Women Die Younger

{This is a guest post by weekly contributors, Caregiver Credit.org. This week features a column by Theresa Funiciello, author of, "Tyranny of Kindness: Dismantling the Welfare system To End Poverty in America", Atlantic Monthly Press, New York 1994}

How do I kill thee? Let me count the ways. In "Poor Women Die Sooner" last Tuesday, the New York Daily News covered a Health Department report stating that poor women die younger than non-poor women. One reason is limited access to preventive care. For instance, even if you have insurance, you may not be able to afford travel to get mammograms. If your neighborhood is poor it’s likely to lack information on the importance of preventive care. These factors are a function of poverty – a problem that neither the city or state or nation have tried to address for forty years.

"Blame the victim" hypotheses in the report are more red- herring than fact. Take the issue of exercise, which non-poor women do more often than poor ones. This implies inactivity on the part of poor women. Three decades ago I was a welfare mother. No paying job or exercise is more totally demanding than being a poor single mother. Cooking with cheap "stick" pans. Cleaning without a vacuum. Hefting kids and schlepping laundry/groceries ten blocks because there are no laundromats/supermarkets closer. Not only mothers, but poor grandmothers and even great grandmothers are more likely to be caring for children than affluent ones. Forget time for exercise.

In 1970, the welfare grant in New York brought incomes for poor families to a smidgeon above the poverty line. Together with food stamps, families were managing. Today, the same welfare grant for a mother and two children buys less than half what it was intended to cover, placing a three-person family at forty-three percent of the $16,090 poverty line, or $6,924 a year. No family with a $35,000 annual income can imagine living on forty-three percent, or $15,500.

Though food stamps were raised episodically to keep pace with inflation, they haven’t actually done so. Most of a growing child’s food needs have to come from the welfare grant. Can’t afford to buy lean or even fresh meat. Ditto on vegetables. Only high fat or highly processed almost nutrient-free carbs, etc. Can’t buy half a phone, pay half the rent. Welfare costs
taxpayers as much as ever. But poor mothers are not getting any more than they did a decade ago, even though only about one third of the people are on the rolls. Where’s that beef?

Since welfare "reform," mothers are forced into short term, low-pay, no-benefit jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says five of the six lowest paid occupations in the nation were related to "food prep and serving" (think fast food and plucking chickens). Guess what jobs welfare mothers get?

Then there is the no-job job. Through "welfare reform," mothers who can’t get paying jobs are required to go to a "job" center to sit idly every day. The centers have no place to send them. If a mother brings a sick child to the "job" center, her welfare grant will be cut. Taking care of her own kid at home isn’t allowed, either.

Poor women do die younger. Blaming the victim got us welfare "deform." Now’s the time to try the outcry thing.