Around Half of US Seniors Living Alone Can’t Afford Basic Expenses: Study
Around half of U.S. seniors living alone can’t afford their basic necessities, statistics published Monday revealed, underscoring calls for legislation to expand Social Security and lower prescription drug prices.
Fifty-four percent of older U.S. women who live on their own and 45% of older men in the same situation are either impoverished by federal standards or cannot cover their necessary expenses, according to the Elder Index, a project of the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston. For older couples, the figure is 24%.
“The Elder Index confirms what we already knew: The cost of living is just too high for older Americans, and their earned benefits aren’t keeping pace with these costs,” the Alliance for Retired Americans tweeted in response to the report.
The Equity in Aging Collaborative—a new initiative by 25 advocacy groups seeking “to address issues of poverty among older adults who have and continue to face inequities across their lifetimes”—is planning to use the index to influence lawmakers to enact laws and policies that ease the financial burden of aging.
Introduced last October by Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.), H.R. 5723—the Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust—would, if passed as written, increase program benefits, protect against inflation, end the five-month waiting period for disability benefits, strengthen the Social Security trust funds, and implement other measures.
Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical industry is fighting to torpedo Senate Democrats’ modest proposal to reduce prescription drug prices by requiring Medicare to directly negotiate the prices of a limited number of medications.
Surveys have shown that expanding Social Security and allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices are overwhelmingly popular with voters. According to recent Data for Progress polling, 76% of all likely U.S. voters support the former policy, while 83% back the latter.
Originally published at Commondreams.org.
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