February 2026 – Whoopsie Piggle

Who are America’s working poor? The official definition is those Americans who spend at least 27 weeks a year in the labor force and yet have incomes below the federal poverty line.

I am one of those Americans.

I work all year as a freelance writer and about 35 weeks as an educator. And yet my adjusted gross income remains well below the federal poverty line, making my family eligible for Medicaid. I came of age during the Reagan Revolution when Republicans promised cutting regulations and taxes would increase corporate profits that would trickle down to the middle and lower classes.

That’s not what happened. As historian Heather Cox Richardson recently reported, “A February 2025 report from RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization…found that if the system in place before 1975 had stayed in place, the bottom 90% of Americans would have had almost $80 trillion more in 2023 than they did.”

Put another way, in reporting by the Washington Post, “Between 1930 and 1980, only the bottom 90% saw their incomes rise. After 1980, only the top 1% saw their incomes rise.” At the same time that wages for the working and middle classes stagnated, costs for basic living expenses, particularly housing and education (still one of the best ways to increase lifetime income) have exploded. But perhaps more than any other expense, nothing in the U.S. has increased like health care. In 1980, the nation spent $247 billion on health care. By 2024 it had jumped to $5.3 trillion.

The cost of insurance, deductibles, co-pays and treatment is so great that, should a family’s income move slightly over the poverty line and lose eligibility for Medicaid, something referred to as the “benefits cliff,” it can be economically devastating. While my two underage children and I are healthy in the general sense, because my daughter was born with Down syndrome, cataracts in both eyes and hypothyroidism, she has high medical needs. She had four eye surgeries her first year and weekly physical, occupational and speech therapies her first three years.

Each of her first 10 years, she went under general anesthesia for various procedures. We’ve long referred to ourselves as “frequent flyers” at Akron Children’s Hospital. Committed to doing all I could to set my daughter up for maximal success given her diagnoses, I could not work a traditional job after her birth. Instead, for 10 years, I proofread legal documents, a job I could do most anywhere, including waiting rooms. Even with that income, which was essential, our family remained well below the federal poverty line.

When my daughter’s appointments became less frequent, I transitioned back to teaching, yet my income continues to place us below the poverty line. I could not have met all my daughter’s needs without Medicaid. I have three college degrees and a resume full of experience, but because wages have remained stagnant while health care costs have skyrocketed, most full-time jobs would mean falling off the benefits cliff: we’d lose Medicaid for expensive health insurance with far less coverage that would result in a net reduction of my household income, and far less comprehensive medical care.

In an interview in 2024, Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he believes Medicaid and Medicare were mistakes and that Medicaid recipients should be required to work. But like so many statements coming from today’s Republicans, Ramaswamy’s is a fiction meant to mislead voters.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2024, 64% of “Medicaid covered adults (age 19-64) who do not receive benefits from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and are not also covered by Medicare” worked either full time (44%) or part time (20%). Those who didn’t work were caregivers, ill or disabled, attending school, retired or unable to find work.

The victim-blaming trope that the poor are poor because they’re lazy is something I’ve heard often but not observed.

It’s a myth.

I’ve worked for years in schools where most students’ households were below the federal poverty level. I’ve lived for decades in a neighborhood that is economically diverse. I’ve witnessed no more reticence to work in poor communities than I have in rich ones. Most people are doing all that they can to take care of their families as best they know how.

America spends far more on health care than any other nation. And yet we are less healthy and have lower life expectancies than any other rich country. The problem isn’t the poor, working or not. The problem is our systems.

This column was first published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Sunday, February 15, 2026.

If you had 80 or 90 years on this planet, how many lives do you think you might positively impact? A dozen? Twenty? Those in helping professions may benefit large numbers of people, but what about the rest of us?

Let me tell you about a girl who who managed to touch the lives of almost everyone in Copley in fewer than 12 years.

When Lorelei Green was born to her parents, Kate and Bryan, in February 2014, they were more prepared for a child with Down syndrome than most families. Kate has worked at Ohio developmental disabilities boards throughout her career as a support and service coordinator (case manager), something that helped them hit the ground running.

People with Down syndrome (DS) are at a higher risk of additional medical conditions, and newborns are screened for life-threatening ones. Over 40% have congenital heart defects and they have a higher risk of acute myeloid leukemia. Also common is congenital duodenal atresia, in which the small intestine is either completely separated or blocked, as was the case with Lorelei. It was surgically corrected shortly after her birth.

That would prove to be the first of many surgeries and procedures Lorelei required. Her first year, she had four surgeries to fix a hernia. When she was 3, surgeons implanted a pacemaker and she received hearing aids. And throughout her life, Lorelei was frequently hospitalized for pulmonary issues. But from the get-go, one thing was clear: Lorelei was sassy and always rallied.

Addy Green fixes the hair of her sister, Lorelei, while Lorelei was hospitalized. — Addy Green braiding the hair of her sister, Lorelei, during Lorelei’s recent hospitalization.

When you become the parent of a child with Down syndrome, you automatically join the community of DS families. But that’s not how I met the Greens. Stephanie Kist, a friend of mine from grad school, has triplets who are a month older than my daughter with DS, Lyra. The Kists live near the Greens and their children are friends with Lorelei and her older sister, Addy. For a few years, we met up at each other’s homes, but that came to a halt when COVID hit.

In 2021, Bryan, who was an ever-active and present father, suffered a permanent brain injury and resides in a nursing home as a result. Even with support from family and friends, it is far harder to work full time and raise two daughters, one of whom has chronic medical needs, as a single parent. Lorelei’s renowned ability to rally came naturally – she inherited it from her mother.

From left, Lorelei Green with her mom, Kate, and sister, Addy, several years ago. — From the left: Lorelei, her mom, Kate, and sister, Addy, several years ago.

Over time, life mostly settled down for Kate and her daughters. For years, both girls ardently practiced and performed dance at Studio West Performing Arts Center. At Copley schools this fall, Addy started high school while Lorelei began sixth grade. With Addy old enough to babysit and Lorelei stable, Kate and another friend came to my house for dinner last May. A few weeks later, Lorelei’s atlanto-axial joint (C1 and C2) were surgically fused. People with DS are prone to subluxation of their spinal joints and before they ride horses in equine therapy programs, it is strongly recommended that the atlanto-axial joint be examined through an MRI for subluxation because slippage can cause significant, even life-threatening, damage.

Lorelei’s surgery went well, but one day in October she came home from school limping. Two days later, she was at Akron Children’s Hospital, unable to functionally move any of her limbs. I read all of Kate’s posts on Lorelei’s progress. Like most everyone, I believed this was just another medical episode Lorelei would power through like she always has.

As always, her spirit never stopped, but on Jan. 14, her body sadly did. Weddings and funerals are also reunions. But unlike family or class reunions, they bring together people from every corner of the celebrated person’s life. At Lorelei’s service, I saw DS friends from throughout NE Ohio. I also saw my eye doctor, a colleague from the university, a colleague from Akron schools and many other people I had no idea also knew Lorelei.

Two of her classmates gave eulogies. Hattie Pickett was remarkably poised as she described the lunch table at which Lorelei reigned and made all the other students pray, with their eyes closed, before eating. They often peeked precisely to have Lorelei scold them. When William Sloan spoke, his struggle with grief was so great that first his mother, and then Kate, stepped up to the podium to support him. Officers from the Fairlawn Police Department knew Lorelei from working as resources officers at her school buildings. The department posted a tribute to her on their Facebook page. The Copley boys’ basketball teams have worn purple ribbons with Lorelei’s name on them in their recent games.

A memorial fund has been established for Lorelei Green, a beloved Copley girl who died this month at the age of 11.

It wasn’t so long ago that people with Down syndrome, or most other disabilities, were not welcome to attend public schools. Laws passed starting in the 1970s changed that, which has been a tremendous benefit to children with disabilities. But you know what? It’s been a benefit to students without disabilities, too.

Lorelei expanded the lives of her many friends at Copley-Fairlawn City Schools and elsewhere, cultivating in them an abiding empathy. What she taught them is now a part of who her friends are. And Lorelei did this just by being herself.

This column was first published on Sunday, February 1, 2026.