Growing older meant living with little or absolutely no income for most elderly individuals in the U.S. Some few years back, there were high levels of poverty among elderly individuals mostly those who were retired. Such individuals feel the impact of the decline in real estate and stock markets and the ever rising food and fuel costs. With the current statistic, roughly 3.4 million elderly individuals who are above 65 years of age live below the poverty line. Many more are struggling to make ends meet slightly above the poverty line. In 2006, 9.4 percent of the elderly people had an income below the poverty line of roughly $9,669 and couples earned around $ 12, 180. Nearly a quarter of the elderly population in the country had an income that was below 150 percent of the poverty line.
The problem facing the elderly concerning high poverty levels has been there for over decades and it is only experienced among the aging population. Old people experience lower income because of wage discrimination and their absence from the labor markets (MacLeod, 2018) . This issue manifests itself because old people are not covered by health insurance and face high medical bills. This reduces the income they have to attend to other needs. America in general provides low wage jobs that cannot enable individuals save for their retirement period. The social security system delays in paying the retired individuals who are forced to wait until they reach the age of 70 and this means that most of such individuals do not have means to fend for themselves before the funds are released because most of them retire by the age of 65. When compared to other rich nations, the Americans retire at far lower rates and the educated have an opportunity to get employment as compared to the uneducated.
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Legislative amendments are being made to address possible solutions to the high poverty levels experienced among the elderly. Some of the possible solutions include strengthening the existing safety net through the supplemental security income and Medicare and Medicaid. The supplemental security income program should be improved. The program, which aims to deliver the elderly from the poverty crisis, has never been updated since the time it was passed in 1972. There should be an increase in the availability of programs which offer long term healthcare assistance at affordable rates for the elderly (Gonzales, Matz-Costa & Morrow-Howell, 2015) . This is because the rising costs of healthcare is a major challenge to seniors’ economic vulnerability. Healthcare programs such as Medicaid that help the poor elder citizens afford medication should be expanded. The high medical costs should be reduced or totally eliminated.
Other solutions include pushing for government support for the long term care safety net. This is because with the high number of America citizen approaching the retirement age daily, there is an increase in the number of individuals who need long term care support. The number of such individuals is estimated to rise from 12 to 27 million by the year 2050. Most of the people who are about to retire are hardly prepared to face the high costs. Public programs which encourage the provision of home and community-based services for the elderly should be encouraged. Lastly, the Older Americans Act should be reauthorized because it provides finances for the major services that senior citizens depends on in order to remain healthy and independent. Model solutions have been implemented in different sectors such as the employment sector whereby more job opportunities are created by the state to ensure that a wide range of individuals can access education. Government implementation of social assistance programs such as EITC and SNAP have contributed towards the reduction of poverty levels among elderly citizens in America ( Moffitt , 2015). An urban institute analysis which was conducted in 2018 indicated that the number of poor people reduced by 28 percent. The Government as well helps poor individuals through charity initiatives.
References
MacLeod, J. (2018). Ain't no makin'it: Aspirations and attainment in a low-income neighborhood . New York: Routledge.
Gonzales, E., Matz-Costa, C., & Morrow-Howell, N. (2015). Increasing opportunities for the productive engagement of older adults: A response to population aging. The Gerontologist , 55 (2), 252-261.
Moffitt, R. A. (2015). The deserving poor, the family, and the US welfare system. Demography , 52 (3), 729-749.
