I think there is a time to ask for or use assistance. I would hope that this type of help would be a temporary predicament. I know many neighbors (we live in a pretty low-income area) who get amazing benefits and have received them all of the time we have lived here -- going on 14 years! IMHO, this is wrong!

Marlene

WIC really helped me through the hard times and all my kids have medicaid. My ex lost his job which he used to carry health insurance on the kids but they lost that when he lost his job so they qualified for medicaid. Thank God b/c I am a SAHM and there is no way we could pay all those doctor bills right now. So, please if you need it DO Not be ashamed to get it...that is what the program has been put in place for! Helping those in need.

Yes but with a stipulation. I would not feel right about buying other things if I was accepting any sort of goverment aid. But I would take it to get by. That is what really gets to me is people who take assistance and then buy things they don't need. I guess I get peeved about this because I have seen people who get all sorts of assistance with rent, food etc and still smoke a pack of cigs or go out to dinner all the time. Having worked in a field where I was doing data entry of Medicaid claims puts it to you. there are thousands of claims everyday and I can't help but think that if more people just got there act together and learned how to better manage what money they do have, then there wouldn't be a need for so many people to be taking assistance.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006 &

Organizer of the Coupon Clippers of Tacoma

Yes, I would. In fact in my mid-20s I worked a job and got laid off due to seasonal lack of work, and benefitted from unemployment. As long as you're not trying to scam the system, why not?

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I may be the odd one out here but I wouldn't - not if you can get by without it. In my opinion government assistance is meant for people who wouldn't make it without the help (and in most cases is only meant to be temporary), not as an income boost. I don't mean that to sound harsh but I think that way too many people think of government assistance as an entitlement rather than a program that was designed to help people out of a tough spot.

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Stephanie
Mom to: Caleb (8/03), Ian (9/05), & Lucas (11/08)

I was encouraged to apply for WIC by someone that works for the county. I probably wouldn't have thought to do it otherwise. It's an income based program. My kids get WIC and when I recently went in for an appt, found out that I qualify for 6 months as well because I had a miscarriage and that is considered postpartum. I feel if you qualify, that's what it's there for.

I felt similarly when we qualified for WIC a few years ago. I felt using it, though we qualified, wasn't right because we were still doing fine (fine meaning we had food on the table, roof over our head, we could pay our bills, etc.) Things were tight, but it would have just been an "income boost" for us. We weren't in dire need of assistance.

That said, I think that anyone who qualifies for it has the right to use it free of judgment, with the exception of people who are obviously trying to work/scam the system.

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~Vicki~
Mama to Hailey, 4 and Ella, 2

I would, however, I've always managed to be over the income limit, sometimes by just a tiny bit.

I have gone to food banks before though - even though I didn't qualify for state aid, I still didn't have money for food, bills, car repairs etc. After bills and car repairs, I got food from the food bank.When I HAD money, I donated back to food banks. I always leave at least a bag or two of non-perishables for the Post Office food drive, and any other food drive. My grocery store often has food drives for the local pantry. I figure my 4 bags of food I used have been paid back in multiple.

I've paid into unemployment, but I've never used it - I've never been without a job until now, and because I quit, I can't get aid. Since I got married, I really don't qualify. That's ok. I know people who scam state aid, but I'll let karma and the law catch up to them. It's sometimes frustrating to me, to see them get WIC coupons and then use what little money they make to go to the bar. If we don't have money for entertainment, we burn stuff in the back yard (DH is a tree trimmer, so our multiple trees are never safe, we always have stuff to burn!)

This drives m crazy because I'm friends with someone like that... They have a huge house, two new vehicles, spend thousands on the latest gadgets, and somehow... all of her kids get free healthcare from the state, as well as other forms of assistance, and while my DH makes less than that guy, we can't get any sort of break on our health insurance needs for when we have the baby next month. We "make too much" yet I don't see how that can be, compared to others I see... Only thing I can think of is they must file taxes seperatly, with her claiming all the kids and not working, so she's in the poverty income and can get all that sutff. Doesn't seem fair at times when you work hard and try to be honest even though some times it's paycheck to paycheck to see others with more than you getting all that government assistance.

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"And the state of his bathroom -- I'm not one to gossip, but there are things crusted on his sink that have not simply developed intelligent life but have in all probability by now evolved their own political systems." Cain describes Abel in in SANDMAN #70

I don't see how they got away with that. You have to show proof of credit card bills, pay stubs, and assets for both in the household. Unless they aren't married and she claimed she was living alone with all those kids - they wouldn't take his income or assets into consideration then. Wow, that's pretty interesting.

I think, if it meant the only way of us making it, I'd do it. DH is jaded from all the people who are on gov't assistance and blatantly abuse it. If you are so financially strapped that gov't assistance is the only way to help you get through, then you aren't out buying $200 worth of video games the first week of every month. But if it was our only way of getting through, I'd do it. And I'd be grateful for it with every bite of the food it bought us. As it is, I get WIC and it has given us the ability to get milk, juice, cereal, etc that I didn't have the money for. We live paycheck to paycheck and I am so grateful that there is a program that is supplementing my efforts to provide healthy food for my family.

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