California Seniors Struggle to Survive

I stumbled upon this article this morning and found it heartbreaking. A recent study released today by researchers calling on the state to better track its seniors who have slipped off the public radar.

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research report measured economic stability by the real costs to eat, travel and pay for medical costs and housing in each of California’s 58 counties.The findings reveal 47 percent of state residents 65 and older are unable to pay for their basic needs. That’s 864,000 seniors, more than half of whom struggle at home alone.

The new data reveal far deeper poverty rates among seniors than was previously known. According to the decades-old standard of measuring poverty, only 9 to 10 percent of California seniors were considered poor, that is, earning less than $10,000 a year. Researchers note that amount is peanuts in high-cost California, failing to reflect the true cost of survival.

The researchers are calling on the state to continue their data collection and use the new measurement to determine eligibility for need-based public programs. California’s aged population is expected to grow by 18 percent in the next four years.

Little in the state budget so far, or the federal stimulus package, will be of much assistance. California’s budget passed last week will cut SSI payments for hundreds of thousands of California seniors by $37 each month, with the possibility of another $20 cut come July. Cuts to home health care subsidies which keep the elderly and infirm out of more costly nursing homes also loom.

President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan will, however, provide some temporary relief for SSI recipients who are blind, elderly or disabled, a group that number 1.3 million in California. Those recipients will receive a one-time $250 cash payment in the coming months.

The Elder Economic Dignity Act of 2009, a bill introduced this month by Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, calls for the state to continue tracking seniors in poverty using new measurements. At present, officials rely on a 50-year-old federal measure to determine who is above or below poverty.

Source: mercurynews.com