Being poor shaves 13 points off your IQ due to the stress and extra cognitive load of having to make these tough decisions for every little thing. Those 13 points come back should you be lucky enough to improve your station in life. Meanwhile the loss of brainpower increases the likelihood of bad decisions that make your life worse and the cycle continues.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
We’d walk to the shops and buy a cheap milk bar treat before heading to Video Ezy to rent a stack of movies.
Decades later, Video Ezy and its later peers DVD Destination and Blockbuster are no longer high street staples, but this version of treat is still going strong for me.
While I’ve matured beyond the need to rent Scream for a sixth time, a snack and film is my go-to for a night in (who can afford to go out?
Thankfully, stews are recommended for a cheap bulk meal, as I so often read in money-savings tips written by experts.
If you shop at different grocery stores because of price-gouging from major supermarkets, you’ll have no free time for other errands or socialising but you won’t notice because you’ve spent all day on the bus travelling to various food markets and getting stuck in a middle-aisle brawl at Aldi.
There doesn’t seem to be any immediate relief in sight, especially for the 1.1 million people desperately waiting for Centrelink payments, more than 60,000 applications for public housing or parents calculating their income against childcare costs.
The original article contains 610 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Does Australia not have public health care?
It does. Our healthcare is subsidised by the government. A visit to the doctor isn’t free, though - as most (almost all) doctors charge more for a consult than what the government covers. Someone struggling financially as much as the author of this article should be eligible for a Health Care Card though, which should give an almost 100% discount on all things medical.
I don’t know that the point of the article was healthcare specifically, or more of a “people are poor, yo!” piece. Because ultimately there are times where people do genuinely struggle financially and may not avail themselves of all the support services the government provides, because they see their circumstances as temporary, or are too embarrassed to admit they need help or other personal reasons.
Someone struggling financially as much as the author of this article should be eligible for a Health Care Card though, which should give an almost 100% discount on all things medical.
Did you mean “should” as in “should in a perfect world”? Because the Health Care Card definitely does not get anywhere close to providing a 100% discount on healthcare.
It’s a bit about the psychology of poverty as well, in that the societal view of being poor has an undercurrent of victim blaming, and individuals often absorb that and feel a sense of guilt and shame for something that isn’t their fault. Even more so with people on welfare, although the article didn’t address that directly.
I know that for myself, when I’ve been between jobs (sometimes for a month or two at a time) over the years, I haven’t bothered dealing with Centrelink etc, because the dole wouldn’t even cover my rent. I just lived off savings and got myself back out there. Also had help from family a couple of times.
It does but unfortunately it is far from perfect. Dental is not covered for example.
Oh dang, that sucks. Root canals and crowns are a hell of a thing
Specialist fees (and nowadays a lot of GP fees for that matter) are not fully covered by the Medicare rebate. Typically you’ll pay about $300 for an standard consultation appointment and get not quite half of that back.
Shoot, was it more comprehensive coverage before?
GP fees have increased steadily over the last decade but the previous conservative Liberal/National coalition government froze the Medicare rebate in 2014 to try to force more of a user-pays system into place, which led more and more practices to stop bulk billing (only charging the rebate amount, meaning no cost to the patient). The current Labor government (ostensibly centre-left but arguably more centre-right now) has increased the rebate, but it hasn’t been enough to significantly reverse the trend yet. Specialist fees have always had an out of pocket cost in my adult lifetime (15-20 years).
Yes, but not for specialist care in all cases. And most practices don’t bulk bill anymore so that can be an issue if you have no savings.
Shoot, thanks
