Government assistance has become a seesaw for Nijole Sopher.
She got a $24-a-month boost from Social Security, but her food-stamp allotment went down $20.
Then Sopher was told that, under the new prescriptiondrug plan, which began Jan. 1, she has to make co-payments for the seven medications she is prescribed.
Ohio’s poorest residents were told that the co-pay — no more than $5 per drug — would be offset by the increase in their Social Security checks. But the government has recalculated the other benefits, and for Sopher and many others, the seesaw has tipped in the wrong direction.
"I think I was better off last year," said Sopher, 59, of the South Side.
Her doctor gave her medicine samples, so she’s good through Feb. 1. After that, she’s not sure what she will do about her prescriptions.
"I’ll go with the ones I need the most," she said.
Among the 200,000 Ohioans who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid — called "dual eligibles" — Sopher’s situation is common.
"Just do the math," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, of the Access to Benefits Coalition and the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. "I haven’t had one person tell me, ‘Gosh, I’m glad I got that small increase in my Social Security check...’ "