• mar_k [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Going on a tangent here, but a couple years ago my mom moved from Connecticut to South Carolina for the warmer climate, nature, and presumed lower cost of living. Now she wants to move back because she can barely afford to get by. She’s a licensed practical nurse, and makes well over 30% less money over there and has way less flexibility in her hours (she often finds herself at an agency that only offers 12 hour shifts with one 30 minute break)

    She hasn’t gone to the doctor, dentist, or optician in a long time, despite having arthritis (from lifting patients) and needing a crown procedure, simply because she can’t afford insurance. Meanwhile Connecticut, which is FAR from perfect, gave her free state coverage. She’s talked to several of her patients at the hospitals she works at who also moved away from the Northeast, and they tend to say similar things about the lack of social safety benefits making it just, harder to survive. But I guess libertarians are middle to upper class freaks who think “freedom” means lower taxes and corporations being people, so why would they give a shit about people like my mom?