Pay Check to Paycheck Documentary Extra Credit

The documentary called “Paycheck to Paycheck” is about a single mother named Katrina Gilbert, who has three young children. “Katrina Gilbert is one of the 42 million American women living near or below the poverty line. There are some 28 million children who depend on mothers like her.” Katrina is a Certified Nursing Assistant who gets paid $9.49 per hour, which is the minimum wage. Katrina was married for ten years to Jeremy Gilbert, but they split up because Jeremy was a pain pill addict and now she is forced to take care of the children on her own.

Jeremy moved in with his parents in Alabama and Katrina rents a trailer home with her three children. In order to pay for her rent, Katrina is able to make partial rent payments. Often Katrina has to drive ten hours to Alabama to drop the kids off to their father so that they can spend time together. Originally, Jeremy did not have a job, but then Jeremy found a job at a local sock mill closer to them. They swapped homes so that Jeremy could afford to live closer to them. Unfortunately, Jeremy’s job is not stable; it’s more like a part time job and most of the time he doesn’t work. Since they are closer together, Katrina is now able to work seven days per week to make ends meet. Even though she receives child-support, it is not enough, which is the case for many low income single mothers. A solution to this problem could be an increase to minimum wage.

Katrina does not to have health insurance because she cannot afford it. Sadly, I know many people with the Obamacare that still cannot afford to have health insurance or do not qualify, which is the case with Katrina, who has Graves’ disease and has been left untreated for many years. I believe that the Obamacare is a big failure; it needs to lower its prices to accommodate the low income families.

Later in the documentary, Katrina submits her income tax return and it is approved for an earned income tax credit. According to Wikipedia, “an earned income tax credit is a refundable tax credit for low to moderate income working individuals and couples—particularly those with children.” With the money she receives from her refund she decides to go to the doctor. Katrina picks and chooses which medications she can afford to take home. If she had to pay her entire medication out of pocket it would cost a total of $400 which she could not afford. In reality, many low income families are faced with this type of circumstances and there is not much that we can do unless there is change in the system.

Source: www.hbo.com

After analyzing the documentary, I believe that the problem is people getting married at a younger age, having kids, and not finishing college. I believe that more education needs to be implemented in schools and that college education is important to be successful. Of course, for the people who are stuck in this type of situation their needs to be more help so that they can live a better quality of life.