> Silver plans are eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction (reducing deductibles to $500-1,000), and pay for doctor’s visits before deductibles kick in. And preventative care has no co-pay and no deductible.
Note that this is ignoring one massive part of healthcare: Dental care. As someone that lived in deep poverty I had to deal with teeth quite literally rotting out of my head because there were no options for me to get care and the insurance that I had didn't cover it. That's easily upwards of a few grand to fix a few teeth which no one can afford on those wages.
> How much do you think gas costs in Iowa? The median rural/town commuter travels about 1,150 miles per month. A 2000 Honda Civic gets 27 mpg. At $2/gallon for around 40 gallons a month, that’s under half your estimate.
Gas costed around ~3 dollars a gallon where I lived and our old car got around 20mpg. That alone creeps up to around $200 for gas and we couldn't afford to get a more efficient car for obvious reasons. The only reason why gas is cheaper now is because of the crash, it was not the norm at all for most people.
> You are out of touch if you think $250 per month is a “rice and beans” food budget for a single person: https://mymoneywizard.com/how-i-spend-less-than-35-a-week-on.... ($67 per week for two people). A weekly trip to Aldi for my family of five clocks in at about $100, and we don’t even try to save money.
You seem to be the one out of touch here considering what the USDA has said. Note that in your money wizard example the prices were incredibly off compared to where I live where things were easily 1.3-1.5x the price at the nearest grocery store. For example, 3lbs pound of chicken breast was easily around $2.80 compared to their example which is around $1.90. It also assumes people actually have time to cook and plan out their meals.
> In central Illinois, you can have a sit-down meal for $10, less if ethnic food. Coffee is a buck. The Y near my house is $40/month for a very nice place with heated indoor pool, and making minimum wage you qualify for financial aid. The county one, which is also nice, is $25/month. Netflix is $13/month. A Verizon MVNO is $35/month. In Iowa City, you can get $1-2 well drinks four days a week
At the very least we can reduce that remaining $350 by another $100 once we factor in internet and phone bills, both of which are required in today's environment.
So let's say you have around $250 left total. That's $250 for emergencies, for feeding your pets, for paying off dental bills, for putting towards loans, for dealing with everything else life has to throw at you.
And people wonder why your average American can't save money or put any of it towards stocks?