Got sick and don't have kids? No help for you!

I recently read one 22-year-old Finnish woman's story about how she got sick and tried in vain to seek help. The article is in Finnish but i'll make a short summary of it.

Noora was diagnosed with spinal disc herniation in her cervical vertebrae and this makes her life very difficult. Every activity is painful and she needs help with basic daily activities. She tried to seek social help and although she has enough proof about her disease from doctors, she didn't manage to get any help. The reasons? She doesn't have kids, she is not an elder and she is not permanently disabled (she is waiting for surgery). Noora said that she always thought by going to work and paing taxes, one is entitled to get social help in case smth. happens but it's not like that (she had to resign from her job because she couldn't work anymore).

She posted her case on social media and that's how she got help. The famous nordic welfare state gave her a middle finger...and one of the reasons? She doesn't have kids. eyes2 And who knows how many Nooras are out there.

There are a lot of Noora's out there. When I worked in the hospital here, one of the lab tech's daughters wound up with lung cancer at 18. She was driving to her first day of collage and couldn't breathe. When they finally got her seen at the hospital, her lung had collapsed. They diagnosed her with cancer. Her parents tried to get her on Medicade and they flat out refused her and then told her that if she were pregnant or had kids it would be a different story. I left before I found out how things turned out with her but I didn't hold my breath.

Do men without children receive help in dire, medical circumstances?

This is beyond immoral. I can't begin to understand how they justify this. Sickening.

I knew that kind of thing was the norm here in the US but am kind of surprised it happens in Europe. I would have thought their social benefits included temporary and long-term disability, but maybe that is something that is left up to the employer to provide...or not.

I just hate the underlying attitude that leads to this kind of situation anywhere. If you run into a health problem and you're between the ages of 18 and 65 and not raising a child under the age of 11, society has deemed you unworthy of assistance. Just take your place in that cardboard box on the corner and hurry up and DIE already! Even if a little temporary help could have gotten you back to your status as an employed taxpayer, NOPE! Just DIE because you're not "contributing" any baybees!

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crazy old crone
Do men without children receive help in dire, medical circumstances?

Back in 2010 my Kid Brother, who was suffering from congestive heart failure and Well's Syndrome, moved in with me. By 2011 he could no longer work, and had to apply for SSDI. It was finally granted to him in 2012 and then he had to wait 2 years to get Medicaid. He finally got Medicaid in 2014, but by then his congestive heart failure was so bad that his kidneys began to fail. He died in June 2014. He was 56.

This is why I'm against the current welfare/social services system. I pay a ton of taxes, which is fine, BUT the benefits need to be distributed to ALL citizens equally.

I'm against mandatory parental leave because it should be a benefit to ALL workers, not just parents. We are supposed to have EQUAL protection under the law

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"If you can't feed your baby, then don't have a baby. And don't think maybe, if you can't feed your baby."
- The wisdom of the late Michael Jackson
"The mother of the year should be a sterilized woman with two adopted children." - Paul Ehrlich

Isn't it great that the people who have money taken out of their paychecks for the sake of benefits often don't even get to use them? WTF, this is two-thousand-fucking-fifteen. You'd think by now, societies would come to the realization that breeders are not the only ones who matter, nor are they more important than everyone else just because they reproduced.

If an unchilded person can't even get a little temporary help to keep them afloat during a tough time, then that could easily mean they go from being an employed taxpayer to being poor and jobless. And when there aren't enough taxpayers/employed people, there's not enough disability and ass-sitting money for the holy breeders who make up the vast majority of benefit recipients.

Frankly, I would much MUCH rather see taxpayer money go toward helping someone through or out of a financial crisis and back on their feet than giving money to breeders to keep them sitting on their ever-widening asses and/or spreading their legs.

Assistance should be accessible by everyone, not just the people who proved their taints work. If you get sick, if you're in a financial rut, if you need food or a place to stay for now, then you should be able to get it regardless of reproductive status. There are plenty of people who are responsible enough to not breed in dire straits, but when they go to the food bank or to try and get on welfare for a little bit, they basically get told to come back after they've had kids because they aren't worth helping without brats in tow.

Boy, breeders would shit themselves if there was a welfare reform and the only people who could use assistance are those who paid into it. I mean I know that'll never happen, but you would think that in a world or country run by semi-sane people, the ones who get first dibs on benefits are the ones whose hard-earned money went toward those benefits.

I guess it varies across Europe. When I was unemployed for a year, I was able to receive assistance: help paying my health insurance plus some toward my expenses.

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skyeyes

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crazy old crone
Do men without children receive help in dire, medical circumstances?

Back in 2010 my Kid Brother, who was suffering from congestive heart failure and Well's Syndrome, moved in with me. By 2011 he could no longer work, and had to apply for SSDI. It was finally granted to him in 2012 and then he had to wait 2 years to get Medicaid. He finally got Medicaid in 2014, but by then his congestive heart failure was so bad that his kidneys began to fail. He died in June 2014. He was 56.

I'm really sorry to hear that Stories like this make me really mad because it doesn't matter if you are woman or man, if you have no kids then no help for you! At least here. You do get some financial help but the girl in question needed some professional to assist her in her daily activities. She is just 22, with proper care she can go back to work in no time but if nobody gives a shit then you just struggle on your own making the situation even worse.

I did consider using food banks and did a search to see where some are located. I did find some idiots who were saying that childless people should be banned from food banks because we don't need them anyways. Really? I don't remember if i mentioned but in the last time,especially FIL, started making all kind of hints about how easy is to raise kids on welfare in Finland. He said that when he and MIL were both unemployed with 4 kids, they had the best financial situation ever because they were both earning very well from unemployment money, welfare and kiddies' bonuses, plus most of the food came for free from food banks.
Add to that a friend of mine, both her and her husband are unemployed, kid on the way, but they managed to travel abroad 3 times this year and buy a brand new car.

Me and DH have jobs but if we had been unemployed with two brats, our incomes would be slightly higher than what we earn now.

If some people earn more just by sitting on their ass and crapping out kids than two full-time employed adults, then you get overall picture. How is that fair?

@ skyeyes: that's so sad. I am sorry for your loss.

@ blackpearl: it's like if you are a CF person, you don't matter to anyone.
Family, colleagues, society...Everyone makes you feel inferior.

"If some people earn more just by sitting on their ass and crapping out
kids than two full-time employed adults, then you get overall picture."
-> it doesn't make any sense, the whole system is completely out of control.
The best thing is that those welfare breeders only produce more welfare breeders
(in the majority of the cases). There are families who live on welfare in the 3rd
generation.

I have to agree, I am in a similar situation .

My job is part time - which is fine with me because that's all I can work anyway. Right now I am waiting to see if the government is going to grant me ongoing financial assistance due to disability and ongoing health issues plus mental health issues. I basically make enough to cover my rent where I am living right now, and that's it. That doesn't include the power and gas used to make my home comfortable to live in. Then I also have internet (no cable tv) as well as a bill from the village for garbage pick up and utilities - water and sewer every couple of months.

Welfare, for a few months, gave me less than $200 a month which would not cover those bills let alone make me able to afford groceries. I didn't bother with the food bank in my area. It came down to it that they were going to close my file and end their 'supplement' or I could choose to come off of it, which I did.

Recently, because I am applying for permanent assistance I was asked to be involved in a survey over the phone. She asked for any additional comments and I told her straight out I have been waiting for over seven months for this assistance to hopefully come through. Welfare has not been any help as it didn't even begin to cover my other costs and that according to them I 'made too much'.

I told her it's unfair I 'make too much' but some welfare moo can sit on home on her ass smoking cigarettes and popping out babies and everything gets paid for!

@ creativelycf: OMG. 7 months??
Do those welfare moos also wait that long? I guess no, they are the highest priority
because they are raising future tax payers *irony off*

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mrs. chinaski
@ creativelycf: OMG. 7 months??
Do those welfare moos also wait that long? I guess no, they are the highest priority
because they are raising future tax payers *irony off*

Welfare moos do have to wait, in theory. But welfare moos go to the front of the line. In the USA, laws only apply to those who pay taxes. If you never paid a dime into the system, you will be catered to. If you are a moo with a kid, you can come here from another country, you will not be sent back, immigration laws don't apply to moos with kids in tow. If you come here and try to work and pay taxes - you will not be welcomed. We only like those who take from the system.

I think I will get preggers and fly over to the promised land :-)

But seriously - in the past, my DH was looking into a job in the US.
We found out that we couldn't take his parunts with us,
even if we would pay everything for them, etc.
There were some serious restrictions.
Nice to know that the restrictions apply to common people only.

my friend's job was eliminated last year and was trying to get low cost state medical insurance here in SC and was told she could only get it IF she had a child under 25. so even though my friend is 50, has worked her entire life, has never been on any kind of assistance, she could not get temporary low cost insurance simply because she has no kids.

it seems like the CF are the last group that it's ok to discriminate against.

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mrs. chinaski
I think I will get preggers and fly over to the promised land :-)

But seriously - in the past, my DH was looking into a job in the US.
We found out that we couldn't take his parunts with us,
even if we would pay everything for them, etc.
There were some serious restrictions.
Nice to know that the restrictions apply to common people only.

That's correct. But, if you want to know how to beat this system, not work and collect the welfare, I can teach you. You come to USA, you get knocked up. Once you spit out the kid - it's an automatic citizenship to the kid as long as the kid was born here. Since you would not be here legally, you would not have a work permit. To the government that means you have no income. You get welfare and free medical for the kid and for you since you are the care taker. Then, as a parent of US citizen, you apply for immigrant visa. Once you got that, you are now a permanent resident and you now can work. Wait 5 years, become a citizen yourself. Apply for immigrant visa for your parents. Any questions? Do it if you want, everyone else is.

Or, show up here with a kid in tow and because your kid cannot be sent back, you won't be either. Don't worry about your parents, amnesty is coming. It won't matter what president we get, they all support it. If you are going to do it, do it soon. Amnesty will include you.

@ Techie: it's incredible how easy it is now to get into the US and stay there.

I also tried to get into the States when I was 18 as an au-pair. I failed because I didn't have
a driving licence. At that time I was a bit disappointed but in the end I thought it was
not so bad because after one year as an au-pair I would have been kicked out anyway. No chance
of staying longer and I was looking for something more permanent.

@ Zzelda and Peace: CSI Miami :-)))

I don't understand why parents would want to register here. Why read a group that is so stridently and vehemently opposed to your lifestyle choice?

@Techie: wow, you have really mild immigration laws for the ones with loaves. Even if i'm an immigrant, i'm somehow glad that Finland is much stricter in this sense. I'm not an expert in immigration laws for the ones with kids but if you come here with a kid in tow, you don't get anything automatically. The only time when the kid gets Finnish citizenship upon birth is if the kid is born here AND one of the parents if a Finnish citizen.

The only people who get some financial help upon arriving here are refugees (the ones who are accepted to stay). Otherwise, you need to get a job or marry a citizen. The female immigrants i know, are married to a Finn and because it's quite difficult to get a job here, they took the easy way and shat out a kid. And benefits came.

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keeper of traken
I don't understand why parents would want to register here. Why read a group that is so stridently and vehemently opposed to your lifestyle choice?

It seems to be the human condition to want what we cannot have. My guess is that some people are more apt to see what's going on here because they're not welcome.

I saw a social experiment in which there was a hole in a public wall with a button inside and a big sign on the outside that screamed, "DON'T PUSH!" People were more likely to push the button because they were told not to do so.

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mrs. chinaski
@ Techie: it's incredible how easy it is now to get into the US and stay there.

I also tried to get into the States when I was 18 as an au-pair. I failed because I didn't have
a driving licence. At that time I was a bit disappointed but in the end I thought it was
not so bad because after one year as an au-pair I would have been kicked out anyway. No chance
of staying longer and I was looking for something more permanent.

@ Zzelda and Peace: CSI Miami :-)))

We are probably the one of the very few countries that has a Birthright Citizenship. People found a way to exploit it. We have a huge immigration problem and nothing will be done anytime soon because breeding is sanctioned here. I wish I knew you when you were 18 - I would have told you about every loophole you wanted to know. You could have stayed here as long as you wanted to.

@ Techie: That's so nice of you :-)
I've always liked the US. That's somehow weird because
I've never been there :-)

We have also a huge problem with immigration here. A lot of people
are coming from Africa to Europe. There are no capacities
for them here - no accommodation, no jobs. The unemployment rate is
already high. It's gonna end up badly, that's for sure.
In the end, Europe will be like Africa but without the good weather :-(

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mrs. chinaski
@ Techie: That's so nice of you :-)
I've always liked the US. That's somehow weird because
I've never been there :-)

We have also a huge problem with immigration here. A lot of people
are coming from Africa to Europe. There are no capacities
for them here - no accommodation, no jobs. The unemployment rate is
already high. It's gonna end up badly, that's for sure.
In the end, Europe will be like Africa but without the good weather :-(

Something will have to change. Either things will get really hard for everyone in EU, Canada and USA or politicians will have to come up with some kind of a plan of action to work with African and Middle East governments where these people can have a decent life at home. USA has a Liberal side to it but it also has a Libertarian side to it. If assistance to everyone is stopped - all locals will have to get jobs or find some source of income by starting a business. Coming here will result in no free benefits, so the number of people trying to show up and settle here without working will naturally be reduced.

We have had government shut down dog and pony shows before, financial support for many public services was stopped. Can it happen again and last longer? Of course! If we continue to be on a coarse that we are on now, it can happen again.

@ Techie: I fully agree. There are natural boundaries for everything.
This cannot go on like this.. It will devastate everything in the end.

@ myrna minkoff: Ups, I am sorry for the schadenfreude :-(