So, back when Democrats let the Republicans set the terms of the major Coronavirus bill (versions 3 and 3.5) many of us were calling for universal monthly payments. principally because this is a massive crisis and all people could use some help to keep themselves and our economy afloat.
Relief through UI “Benefits,” really?
Then we learned that most the aid to individuals was going to be focused on unemployment insurance. Ugh. If you ever had to apply for unemployment you would know it is an arcane, byzantine system mostly designed to either scare you away from accessing the benefit or just to outright deny claims because of all sorts of “requirements.”
An example is the need to have worked somewhere for 20 consecutive weeks to be fully eligible for coverage. Another is, if your employer shuts downs altogether you lose the benefit in many states. Those are just a couple of the filters they use to not provide unemployment benefits.
My brother had his hours cut in half, Ohio does provide partial, hours reduction-related benefits. He was ruled ineligible since his wife worked too basically (there is more to it than just that, its a formula). I mean it's not like they don’t rely on both their full incomes or anything like that, right?
we were fucking right about what a colossal mistake cramming aid through unemployment was.
The image at the top off this post shows the real colossal problem here in Ohio.
We have had 1.1 million people file unemployment claims since the beginning of the crisis.
92% of the claims have FINALLY been processed. That comes to 1,012,000 roughly (since the 1.1 million number provided by the state is assuredly a rounded figure). I put FINALLY because people surviving paycheck to paycheck that filed in the first two weeks waited 4 to 5 weeks for their claims to be processed. Imagine the late fees they racked up in that time, it’s expensive being poor.
Ohio has processed 92% of those claims, sounds great right, but notice that around 600k claims paid. That means 412,000 claims have been denied (a point of pride for our unemployment office has been the “all claims approved paid immediately” status, the problem has been the length of time it has taken to approve the claim, again people are already living paycheck to paycheck piling on late fees and penalties all the while).
412,000 people were denied relief benefits though. Just in Ohio.
Ok, some of those denials might have been people eligible for the new PUA (Pandemic Employment Assistance) which adds self-employed and other miscellaneous contract works eligibility.
So assuming all those numbers were part of the denial pot, that still means 251,000 people have been denied access to the primary assistance meant to help people through this crisis. Now, I think that pre-registration number marks a shift in policy, where those people don’t have to get denied unemployment first (like they had to before the policy shift), so that number of people that have been denied relief benefits could be up to 359,000 people denied aid in the middle of a global pandemic where the economy is crashing around all of our ears.
at best a quarter million people have been denied relief in ohio
Yep, that is just in Ohio, who, while largely a Republican state now, tends to have somewhat generous safety nets compared to other red states.
So, running aid through unemployment has resulted in about 25% of the people seeking needed hep being denied that aid. That does not even consider people that don’t bother to apply even though they might be eligible and otherwise need the help. My guess, and it is just a guess, that’s probably a good 100,000 people or so at least.
if pandemic relief is the goal this approach has been a failure
That is a failed approach by definition. Sure, most people were helped, but 25% denial is terrible for those human beings, trying to feed their kids, keep a roof over their head and you no exist in relative safety if possible. All that denied in a global pandemic.
The insanity of means-testing people to death in normal times drives me up the wall. To do it in the middle of a cascading calamity is mindboggling to me. I mean I get the Republican impulse to means-test people to death, but all I have heard Democratic leadership say is how great it is they have run this through unemployment as well.
I know a quarter of a million people in Ohio who would disagree. I join them in their discontent.