Big, Blue Button

Here it is:

Recently I went to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Medicaid website in search of a phone number. It should have been easy to find – the 800 number for the processing center that deals with most Medicaid inquiries in the state – but that important number was tricky to track down.

You know what wasn’t hard to find, though? The giant blue button with big, bold “Report Public Assistance Fraud.” 

That button was right there on every page. As I saw it, and saw it, and saw it, I realized something.

That big, blue button was more prominent than any of the links to learn about how to apply for Medicaid, for food stamps, for emergency assistance. It’s easier to find than the information—like that phone number—that would help people currently using public assistance make sure they are communicating clearly with the state.

To me, that blue button is saying that the state of Idaho thinks I’m more likely to commit fraud than seek to use the public programs my family benefits from the way they are intended to be used.

I’m not saying fraud isn’t a problem, or it shouldn’t be reported (though Idaho apparently doesn’t have such a concern about legislators committing tax evasion, but whatevs).

The issue also isn’t whether Medicaid or other forms of public assistance should exist, or whether they’re the most efficient and effective ways to help those in need. The fact is, at this point in time, they’re the best way for families to receive help.

And the issue here is how we treat people who ask for help.

Now, maybe I’m reading too much into that blue button. But the hostility and mistrust is laid right out there in the open when  politicians and talking heads on cable news call low-income people lazy, moochers, parasites.

That language has leaked into the vocabulary of everyday Americans who would have no problem hopping on the comments section of this blog and calling me the same things, even if they don’t know me and would never say it to my face – and even if they do know me, as I learned in a past episode.

I’ve been told before that it’s good for people on public assistance to feel guilty, that it will motivate them get better jobs and earn more money. But I hope most of us realize by now that it’s just not that simple.

I was having a conversation about the economy with a group of other parents earlier this week and one father said that his business had hit such hard times that he was considering applying for food stamps and Medicaid for his daughter, and he turned his face and looked ashamed. Something made this big, burly dude, a good-old-fashioned American small business owner, feel ashamed to ask for help to be sure his little girl had healthy meals, that she could get immunizations or a cast if she breaks her arm

That’s the type of shame that exists in a country where worth is tied to wealth.

There are people for whom that big blue fraud button exists. There are people who choose abusing public assistance above working hard. There are thousands of others who don’t.

So help me out, dear readers—what’s causing these attitudes toward our fellow citizens? How does hostility toward the people asking for help right in front of us affect the way we treat the people in need who are thousands of miles away? Is it guilt good? (Obviously I’m seeing a million possible discussions that could arise from this—so let’s have em! And feel free to dissent, just don't be a meanie face about it.)