What Becomes of the Poor, Elderly and Disabled

By Lady Worth

Recently the United States government began to debate the National Debt and whether or not to raise the debt ceiling.  It was at this time the question arose in my mind.  What becomes of the poor, elderly and disabled.  Were they going to be weeded out like some kind of bad livestock?  Were they going to be left to fend totally for themselves?   What will become of the poor, elderly and disabled?


While these questions were coming to my mind, I thought of the homeless people that we have already on our streets.  I live in a very rural area in Missouri and just recently I have been seeing more and more people who are homeless.

It's rare for this area. Generally around here, families take care of their own.  However, with the state of economy the way it is these days,  families are barely taking care of their own little units, let alone taking in someone else to take care of.

Left with no choice, family members are forced, as a means of survival for themselves, to turn their backs on other family members and friends. 

I suspect that this is not something that most people in this area are fond of.  So why is our government so effectively ignoring this problem while they make thier decisions about budget cuts?

There are also the poor.  Such a disgusting term for those who struggle just to make ends meet.  Many of these people live from paycheck to paycheck. 

They may also live with the aid of food stamps or some type of government assistance.  They may be the ones who question how each and every bill is going to be paid.  But the fact is that many of these people feel beaten down and really can't afford any other means of surviving. 

What are they going to do? What becomes of the poor, elderly and disabled?

Some of them may actually cheat the system just to survive.  A bill has to be paid so they work for cash just to make a few extra bucks.  God forbid that Johnny may need braces.  Even with the help of Medicade, there is still not going to be enough resources in that house to make sure he gets them.  If the electric bill gets too high in the winter-time, they better know a rich relative or that bill isnt going to be paid in full. 

Now the elderly.  How can we as a society be so cruel to our elderly who have raised their children and paid their dues so to speak?  Most are forced to live off of Social Security and SSI which in most cases does not pay enough even to meet those monthly expenses of living or the doctor's bills.

If they are lucky they might have a small retirement check from wherever they worked, and do notice that I did type small.  We all hear the stories of the old man or woman going to the store to buy cat food and you know they dont have a cat.  Cat food might taste pretty good.

Would we hear those stories if we were actually taking care of them as we should?

And the medical expenses...yes, they may have medicare, but that only pays 80% of a hospital bill.  Come on, have you been hospitalized lately?  Even 20% of a medical bill can chew up and spit out a Social Security check like it is nothing.  Then the government is talking about more Medicare cuts.  Hmmm.

Then the disabled people who are out there are in a very precarious position.  Some of these people did work for the time before something happened to thier health.  Others were born with disabilities.  None of these people asked for thier health issues.  Many of those who did work before hand would prefer to be working again.  They like the idea of being independant.  Yet, they are being forced to live off of government assistance.  Some source of real independance wouldnt you say?

Here I have to wonder what kind of common sence our government is using.  They want to make cuts to medicare and all other kinds of assistance that these people are living off of.  So what is going to happen to them?  Well lets see.....common sence tells us that the poor get poorer and maybe will become another case of homeless.  And then there are the elderly......are they going to become homeless also?

And for the disabled and others who are in nursing homes.......are they also going to be homeless?  It seems to this writer that maybe we should take the millions and trillions that we send to other countries for thier disasters and apply it here at home.  So I repeat the question:  What will become of our Poor, Elderly and Disabled?