June 2012
UpFront:Below the Line
Rate of poverty among seniors increased
Between 2005 and 2009, the rate of poverty among American
seniors rose as they aged. The number of new entrants into poverty also
increased during this time, according to a report by the Employee Benefit
Research Institute (EBRI). Poverty rates fell in the first half of the last
decade for almost all older Americans (ages 50-plus), though they increased
since 2005 for every age group.
Poverty rates, as defined by U.S. Census poverty thresholds,
were highest for the oldest of the elderly. Almost 15% of those over age 85
were in poverty in 2009, compared with approximately 10.5% of those older than
65, EBRI found. Additionally, in 2009, 6% of those aged 85 or older were new
entrants to poverty.
According to Sudipto Banerjee, author of the report and EBRI
research associate, “As people age, personal savings and pension account
balances are depleted and ... their
medical expenditures tend to increase. Also, the rising poverty rates noted
correspond to the two economic recessions that occurred during the last
decade.”
The EBRI analysis also found: In 2009, the poverty rate for
Hispanics was 21% higher than for whites, while for blacks it was 17% higher
than for whites; poverty rates for women were nearly double those for men, for
almost all years in the survey period (in 2009, for instance, poverty rates
were 7% for men and 13% for women); more than one in five (20.9%) single women
over age 65 lived in poverty in 2009; and the odds of developing a health
condition—acute or otherwise—increases from 45% to 55% for those below the
poverty line.
The data for the study came from the University of
Michigan’s “Health and Retirement Study” (HRS), which was sponsored by the
National Institute on Aging (NIA). EBRI’s full report, “Time Trends in Poverty
for Older Americans Between 2001–2009,” was published in its April Notes.
Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com