A 400-Year-Old Bias Against Non-Parents

by M G · 2010-03-12 12:37:00 UTC
Topics:

Reader Desiree Michaels made an excellent point in response to my post last week about how men are underserved by government aid programs during the recession. "How about we talk about ALL of the stereotypes in such programs," she wrote. "Not all who are poor ARE families in the sense of parent(s) with children. Many of us are single or we're childless. The presumption that we ARE parent(s) with children stigmatizes those who need help but it has actually built discrimination into the programs supposed to help the poor."

Michaels is exactly right: government aid programs have discriminated against childless adults since the earliest days of their existence. A story written by Kaiser Health News in collaboration with the Philadelphia Inquirer chalks the inequity up to a 17th century English belief that able-bodied men should not need government help, a standard that was transferred to America long before the New Deal created the earliest assistance programs. That belief persists even today through the Medicaid program, which excludes healthy adults without children. "Medicaid should be focusing on people that Medicaid is uniquely qualified to serve, which are people with complex medical needs, people with disabilities," Dennis Smith, President George W. Bush's head of Medicaid, told Kaiser Health News.

The problem is that children and elderly and disabled adults are not the only ones with "complex medical needs." Everyone needs health insurance in case they get hit by a car, contract a serious illness or break a bone. Furthermore, research shows that preventative care keeps people healthier and saves the society money, but you can't go in for a checkup without private health insurance or Medicaid coverage. Both versions of the health care reform bill currently include an expansion of Medicaid to reach many more childless adults (the Senate bill would extend coverage to all single people making less than $14,404, the House to those making less than $16,245). That will still leave many people out, but at least it would correct that 17th century inequity that inexplicably persists today.

Photo credit: US Army Africa

M G was most recently a staff reporter for The Washington Post, covering philanthropy and nonprofits, education and the war in Iraq.
PREVIOUS STORY:
WIC: Who Decides What We Buy?
NEXT STORY:
Is the NCAA Putting Student Athletes at Risk?

COMMENTS (3)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.