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Jeff Dorris

Deliberations from Dorris

Jeff Dorris is the Editor of the Delta Dunklin Democrat

Editorial

Struggling Seniors

Saturday, July 30, 2022

College Debt Forgiveness.

Climate Change.

Abortion.

These are some of the issues the Biden administration have been focused on. A lot of money and time are funneled into these matters.

If we’re going to spend enormous amounts of money on social issues I’d like to suggest one that you don’t seem to hear so much about.

Let’s take a look at our senior citizens.

Our seniors struggle.

According to the Elder Index, a little-known measure of the cost of living for older adults, developed by researchers at the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts-Brown, more than half of older women living alone, 54 percent, are in a precarious financial situation.

They’re either poor, according to federal poverty standards, or with incomes too low to pay for essential expenses.

For single men the share is 45 percent.

In 2020, data from the Gerontology Institute showed that 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.

And those estimates were before inflation soared.

Social Security benefits can’t cover it all.

Medicare and Social Security don’t miraculously take care of all people’s needs in old age.

Our senior population is fortunate to have the OAKS Nutrition Center that offers inexpensive lunches, but what if the OAKS wasn’t there?

You add up the increased cost of groceries and gas and you have a real crisis for many of our seniors.

Simply put, inflation is outpacing the cost of living for the elderly.

It just makes you wonder, if we can forgive college debt, perhaps we can throw some help to our senior citizens, as well.

Many want to save the planet, but according to this data, our seniors need saving as well.

Something to think about.

See you out there.

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