This Can’t Be Happening…

You get the phone call….

…from a collection agency!

I’m still quaking from it. So far, in all my days of recent poverty, I’ve managed to stay on top of the bills and not get anything disconnected. One medical bill notice came early last month, saying that if I did not make a payment, they would turn it over to collections. I did write out a decent sized check right away and it was cashed. So I thought this settled it. Nope!

But I did not let the fear paralyze me. I kept the collections person on the phone while I checked my bank account to see if that check had indeed been cashed. I told her so. She reluctantly stated that she would call the medical office to check on it. I did not trust them to follow through, so I called over to the office right away.

It was a mistake!!! The billing lady was truly shocked and apologetic.

Still, this will probably show up on my credit report at some point, even if it were an oopsie. Thank you God, that it was not worse!

Oklahoma’s Poverty

From the Community Action Project, based in Tulsa:

August 29, 2006

Census Bureau Shows State Poverty Rate at Ten-Year

High

High Rates of Poverty, Uninsured Show Many Being

Left Behind

New data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau

reveals an alarming increase in the number of

Oklahomans living in poverty, according to a press

release issued by Community Action Project (CAP).

The annual “Poverty Day” data released by the

Census Bureau reveals that:

+ Over the period of 2005-06, an average of 15.4%

of Oklahomans lived below the federal poverty

level. This is up sharply from 13.2% in 2004-05

and 11.8% in 2003-04;

+ Oklahoma’s rising poverty trend differs from the

nation’s as a whole; nationally, poverty rates

have declined modestly the past two years;

+ At 15.4%, Oklahoma’s most recent poverty rate is

at a ten-year peak;

+ An average of 537,000 Oklahomans have been

living in poverty the past two years;

+ County-level data reveals that Oklahoma County

is suffering the worst concentration of poverty of

the state’s metropolitan counties, with 22.1% of

the county’s residents falling below the poverty

line in 2006;

+ Median household income in Oklahoma in 2006 was

$38,276, which is $10,175, or 21% below the

national median household income;

+ The Census Bureau today also released data on

health insurance coverage revealing that an

average of 650,000 Oklahomans, or 18.7%, were

without health insurance for the period from

2004-06.

Yep, We’re poor.