The thing that appalled me almost speechless yesterday was a note that overnight, the Republican ACA replacement was modified to allow states to dump a new mother from her Medicaid benefits if she doesn't find a job within 60 days of giving birth. Let me try to formulate why this is cruel, anti-child, anti-family and also ridiculous.
First, there is the breast-feeding consideration. If mothers are pushed to start work before even 2 months have passed, babies are much less likely to get the recommended minimum of 6 months of exclusive breast-feeding and all of the benefits that go along with that. It is common knowledge that babies are healthier when breastfed. This reduces health care costs and employee absenteeism, not to mention improved bonding between mother and baby. The breastfed baby has better cognitive development, better immunity to all kinds of illnesses, his/her risk of SIDS is cut in half and s/he has a lower lifetime risk of chronic diseases such as Crohn's Disease and diabetes. Mom has lower risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lower later life risk of osteoporosis. Despite all of these benefits, though, returning to work early in the postpartum period significantly increases the chance that moms will wean their babies within the first month that they are back at work. While jobs are legally supposed to support breastfeeding mothers, the reality is that this is much less likely to be the case in low wage jobs and that even in the best of circumstances pumping at work is challenging to establish and maintain through the first weeks of returning to a job.
Second, there is the hypocrisy involved in other policies pursued by mostly the same politicians who have put forth this replacement plan. The very politicians who think this is a palatable idea are the ones who want to remove mandates for birth control and maternity care to be covered by insurance, the ones who want to keep women and their doctors from being able to make crucial and difficult decisions about whether to continue a pregnancy. These are the politicians who are taking away education, housing, food and medical dollars in order to pour money into the military. And these are the politicians who oppose raising the federal minimum wage despite the fact that our population has become increasingly top-heavy, with dollars moving toward the upper crust, the middle class shrinking and the poor struggling as always on wages that don't keep pace with the cost of housing, healthcare and other necessities.
Third, let's just look at the financial reality of forcing a single mom in a minimum wage job to return to work despite all of the other arguments:
$7.25/ hour is federal minimum wage (21 states still use
this as their minimum wage, while others have raised theirs with the highest
being the District of Columbia at $11.50 and Washington and Massachusetts at
$11.00)
*2080 which is the standard number of annual hours for a full
time worker
= $15,080
Minus $934.96 for Social Security
Minus $218.66 for Medicare
Leaving $13926.38 (I did not count any income taxes, as this individual could adjust their exemptions to prevent any income taxes from being withheld, and would probably get a refund at tax time. For many low income people, this refund is used to pay off payday loans, license plates, car repairs and other things that they have had to postpone because there just isn't the money to pay for any of it.)
Minus average infant childcare cost (from a nat’l assn of
child care referral agencies - and this is assuming you can even find an opening for an infant because those openings are few and far between)
$11,666
leaving
$2260.38 / year
$188.36 / month
In Colorado
the minimum wage is $9.30
*2080 hours for full time worker
= $19,344
minus $1,199.33 for
Social Security
minus $280.49 for
Medicare
$17,864.18
Minus Average infant childcare cost in Colorado :
$12,736
=$5,128.18 / year
Leaving
$427.35 / month
+$357 / month Food Stamps (which cannot be spent on anything
but food, so no sanitary supplies, diapers, cleaning products, toilet paper,
personal care items, etc.)
+$65 / WIC benefits
In my county, there is a constant waiting list for childcare
assistance, and a waiting list with no likely openings in the near future for
housing (this from our local housing authority, who recently told me that HUD
is anticipating $6B in cuts in the new budget), and median cost for a 1 BR
apartment in Denver is $1380.
Going back to work for a single parent (without someone they know who can watch their child for free or very cheaply) is not only not financially feasible, it is just plain impossible. Forcing a new parent to go back to work without supporting the services that would make that possible, or at the very least, supporting a living minimum wage is cruel and inhumane. You simply cannot claim to hold family values or to be pro-child if these are the things you support.
https://www.babycenter.com/0_how-much-youll-spend-on-childcare_1199776.bc
