Oregon Public Broadcasting

OPB’s Hard Times series continues with the latest on one of the people we’ve been following. Annie Adkisson lost her job just as she was having her first child, late last year.

She’s getting by on her husband’s income, rent from a handful of housemates, and her own frugality. But as Rob Manning reports, the young family of three is still feeling squeezed.

Perhaps the clearest illustration of the family’s thin margin is a decision Annie made recently with her husband Joel. In just three days, the couple will lose their health insurance.

Annie says they had to do it, when the premium went up – even though it didn’t go up that much.

Annie Adkisson: “We found out that this year, they were going to be raising the rates, so that our portion of the contribution towards that health insurance was going to go from ten percent to twelve percent of our income.”

Annie’s nine-month-old daughter, Niamh will continue to have health insurance through the Oregon Health Plan. And that’s a good thing, considering Niamh’s recent brush with a potentially serious health problem.

Annie Adkisson: “We had a little scare recently where at the doctor’s office, the lead screening test tested out really high – almost at 14 which is officially in the lead poisoning range.”

Annie had Niamh re-tested, and learned the toddler’s actual lead level was four, not fourteen, micrograms. But Annie still endured a chaotic week, when she seriously considered moving.

Annie’s relieved that Niamh’s lead number is a four, one microgram below the “cautionary” amount. But she says she came across research that gives her pause.

Annie Adkisson:  “For every one – there’s an average of one drop in IQ point, and they didn’t give any minimum on that. So I guess it’s OK that she’s going to drop four IQ points! That kind of makes me feel like a bad Mom, that I should do everything I can to help my daughter. But where do I draw the line? I want to get her the best food, I want to give her the best living space, I want to give her the best of everything. But ... I don’t know....”

A new place to live might be the perfect solution, but it would be expensive.

Annie and Joel are having themselves tested for lead, before their insurance disappears entirely. But even the $40 in co-pays for those exams is tough to cover.

Annie Adkisson: “We’ve been living with what we couldn’t afford already.”

And that’s coming from a woman who’s done a lot to get the family to live within its means. She says she can save 40 percent off a grocery bill with coupons. Her family doesn’t eat out, doesn’t buy new clothes, and is avoiding overdue car repairs.

Annie says there’s nothing more to cut. The only solution is more income.

So, now Annie is trying to balance watching Niamh with marketing work for an internet startup. She’s learned something about herself in trying to make that work.

Annie Adkisson: “I need to be a multi-tasker, and I am not naturally. I am – go away from the house, like to a coffee shop, sip a latte, focus, do my work, no outside distractions, and get stuff done. But that’s absolutely not an option right now. For one thing, lattes cost too much money.”

Kidding aside, Annie says her difficulty focusing inside her house is becoming a problem.

Annie Adkisson: “I’ve tried to the point where, I’m actually in danger of losing the job I just got because I’m not doing as much as they’d like to see me doing.”

Sound of Niamh fussing -- Annie Adkisson: “Maybe it would be good for you to take her now, Autumn…”

Annie hands Niamh off to Autumn Simonson – the 23 year-old who lives in the basement. Annie says professional childcare doesn’t pencil out, because it costs as much as Annie earns.

Autumn recently had her hours cut at the cafe she works at, and she’s supplementing her income by doing some babysitting. But she says she’s not willing to accept less money, to babysit Niamh.

Autumn Simonson: “Oh, no way – it’s so unrealistic. I’d totally be stuck. And I already feel in a rut already, with the minimum wage job I have and not so good of tips to live off of.”

Annie says she doesn’t want to lean on Autumn, either, because it would keep Autumn from finding a better job. 

But Annie is reluctantly accepting an offer from her mother.

Annie’s Mom lives in Vancouver, and says she can watch Niamh for a few hours at night. But that’s not ideal, for any of them.

Annie will have to drive to Vancouver and back. And Annie’s Mom already works full-time at a child care.

Annie says she’s would rather not have her mom go from watching kids to earn a paycheck, to watching Niamh, so her own paycheck can go further. But Annie says she doesn’t know what else to do.