Chapter 9 reveals the reasons behind poverty with
the elderly. The chapter touches on financial status, and a piece of the good
life. s, wide diversity in financial status, home ownership, home rental,
social security, fewer workers to support more retirees, social security
adjustments, inequities in social security, assistance from poverty, retirement
winners and losers, medical expenses, medicare and Medicaid, medigap policies,
private pensions, lifestyles of the poor, rural and urban elders. According to
Hillier & Barrow (2011), the poverty rate for people aged 65 and older
declined from precipitously 1970 to 1996, in no small part due to the benefits
of Social Security. Women, ethnic minorities, those who live alone, and the
oldest-old constitute 90 percent of the elderly poor. Most old people, however,
are not desperately poor, but struggling in the lower to middle income ranges.
If the benefits if social security were withdrawn from their income, many more
of America’s elderly would move into poverty. Under Social Security, people
under age 65 and between the ages of 65 and 69 are penalized for working,
although after age 70 there is no penalty on wages earned. An income tax levied
on higher-income Social Security beneficiaries resulted in about 20 percent of
people on Social Security paying taxes on their benefits. SSI provides a minimum
income for elders, the blind, and the disabled by supplementing Social Security
benefits if they are below the amount stipulated by SSI. It is designed to
assist the very poor (pg 255).
Hillier, S. &Barrow,G
(2011). aging, the individual, & society. (8th ed.p30-31). California:
Wadsworth.
No comments:
Post a Comment