| | | u.s. as a failed state...
u.s. health insurance business is largely responsible...
via les h:
Fran Seeley, 81, doesn’t see herself as living on the edge of a financial crisis. But she’s uncomfortably close.
Each month, Seeley, a retired teacher, gets $925 from Social Security and a $287 disbursement from an
individual retirement account. To make ends meet, she’s taken out a reverse mortgage on her Portland,
Maine, home that yields $400 monthly.
So far, Seeley has been able to live on this income — about $19,300 a year — by carefully monitoring her
spending and drawing on limited savings. But should her excellent health worsen or she need assistance at
home, Seeley doesn’t know how she’d pay for those expenses.
More than half of older women living alone — 54% — are in a similarly precarious financial situation: either
poor according to federal poverty standards or with incomes too low to pay for essential expenses. For single
men, the share is lower but still surprising — 45%.
...In 2020... nearly 5 million older women living alone, 2 million older men living alone, and more than 2 million
older couples had incomes that made them economically insecure.
...Nationally and in every state, the minimum cost of living for older adults calculated by the Elder Index far
exceeds federal poverty thresholds, which are used to calculate official poverty statistics.
One national example: The Elder Index estimates that a single older adult in good health paying rent needed
$27,096, on average, for basic expenses in 2021 — $14,100 more than the federal poverty threshold of
$12,996. For couples, the gap between the index’s calculation of necessities and the poverty threshold was
even greater.
Yet eligibility for Medicaid, food stamps, housing assistance, and other safety net programs that help older
adults is based on federal poverty standards, which don’t account for geographic variations in the cost of
living or medical expenses incurred by older adults, among other factors.
...Social Security benefits cover only a fraction of what older adults need for basic living expenses: 68% for a
senior in good health who lives alone and pays rent and 81% for an older couple in the same situation.
“There’s a myth that Social Security and Medicare miraculously take care of all of people’s needs in older
age,” said Alwin, of the National Council on Aging. “The reality is they don’t, and far too many people are one
crisis away from economic insecurity.”
...For someone in Fran Seeley’s situation (an older adult who is in excellent health, lives alone, owns a house,
and doesn’t pay a monthly mortgage), the index suggests $22,560 a year is necessary — $3,200 more than
Seeley’s annual income and $9,500 above the federal poverty threshold.
Fran Seeley’s income — from Social Security, a retirement account, and a reverse mortgage — comes to
about $19,300 a year. With inflation increasing, “it means I have to cut back in any way I can,” Seeley says.
A look at Seeley’s budget reveals how quickly necessary expenses accumulate: $2,041 annually for Medicare
Part B (this is deducted from her Social Security check), $4,156 for property and stormwater taxes, $390 for
home insurance, $320 for furnace cleaning, $1,440 for heat, $125 for water, $500 for gas and electricity, $300
for property maintenance, $1,260 for phone and internet, $150 for car registration, $640 for car insurance,
$840 for gas at current prices, $300 for car maintenance, and $4,800 for food.
The total: $17,262. And that doesn’t include the cost of medications, clothing, toiletries, any kind of
entertainment, or other incidentals...
“The biggest worry I have is not being able to afford living in my home or becoming ill. I know that medical
expenses could wipe me out in no time financially.”
khn.org
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