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AARP Survey Finds Decline in Health Care, Income for
Those 50+
Says outlook more bleak during the most recent years
Jan. 30, 2006 - Compared with a decade ago, the
state of 50+ America seems to have improved, but AARPs third annual
report card on the quality of life of midlife and older Americans
finds that "the picture has become less favorable and the outlook more
bleak during the most recent year." As the nation prepares for
tomorrow's State of the Union, AARP released its annual "State of 50+
America" report, which finds a one year decline in key health care
indicators and lower family income for Americans age 50 and above.
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Seniors Charging Out of Poverty While Nation Sinks
Poverty rate for seniors decreases to 9.8, nation
climbs to 12.7
Aug. 31, 2005 There was good news about senior
citizens today in the U.S. Census Bureau report on income, poverty and
health insurance in 2004 the percentage of seniors living in poverty
continues to decrease. The news was not so good for the rest of America
with the poverty rate increasing over 2003 and household income
unchanged.
Read more...see charts, graphs.
Read more on
Senior Statistics |
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The President, tomorrow night, is expected to
emphasize the need to make health care more affordable. According to
AARP Director of Policy and Strategy John Rother, the attention is
timely -- more than 6.6 million 50 to 64 year olds are uninsured.
"The AARP report found health care costs are
staggering for more Americans," Rother said. "The percentage of 50+
households which can not even afford medical care they need today is
growing," he added. The 50+ report found that five of seven health care
indicators declined over a one year period.
"Economists are reporting a growing economy. But
AARP has found that real family income has not increased since the late
1990s for mid-life and older Americans, and over the last year family
income for the age group has declined," Rother said.
Although the year-to-year changes are slight, AARP
continues to be concerned about the cumulative effect of rapidly rising
health care costs, the uncertain future of pensions, and threats to the
guaranteed benefit of Social Security that the majority of Americans
rely on as their primary source of retirement income.
Rother noted that health care now consumes 16
percent of the nation's gross domestic product. While the burden has
been shifting to the individual to absorb the cost increases for health
care, wages and family incomes are not keeping up with health care's
skyrocketing costs, he said.
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Read below main news
report - Senior
Citizens Depend on Social Security |
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Key "State of 50+ America" findings include:
● In addition to health care affordability, the
percent of 50+ Americans reporting their health as excellent or very
good -- a widely-used measure of health -- declined slightly between
2003 and 2004 from 47.5 percent to 47 percent.
● Another negative was the percent of individuals
who were not obese or overweight: the percent declined from 39.7 to 35.0
between 1998 and 2004.
● Real median family income decreased 1.5 percent
in the most recent one-year period.
● About half (50.1 percent) of the population age
62 and older received more than half of their income from sources other
than Social Security in 2004, a slight increase from the previous year.
● More than half of Americans age 50+ (55
percent) said that housing costs are a larger share of their budget
today compared to five years ago.
"The data reflect and validate the uncertainty that
so many 50+ Americans feel today," said Rother.
"The task ahead for Congress and policymakers is to
avoid policies that put 50+ Americans' economic and health security at
any further risk, to shore up the programs and policies that protect
them from falling into poverty and to enhance opportunities for boomers
to provide for themselves as they approach their retirement years."
The indicators were derived from well-established
government surveys or from the "AARP Aging Indicators Study, 2005."
AARP says it is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan
membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice
and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and
society as a whole." AARP publishes a number of publications, and
brokers insurance and other products to its members. AARP Foundation,
the say, "is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection,
and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of
volunteers, donors, and sponsors."
Senior Citizens
Depend on Social Security
From AARP's State of 50+ America (2006)
"The percent of the population age 62 and older who
receive more than half of their income from sources other than Social
Security indicates the relative dependence on sources of income other
than Social Security. Having diverse sources of income generally means
higher incomes and less vulnerability to income loss from any one
source. The higher this percentage, other things being equal, the better
off beneficiaries are.
"Social Security was not intended to be the sole
source of income for retirees.
"Just over half (50.1%) of the population age 62
and older received more than half of their income from sources other
than Social Security in 2004, a slight increase from the past year and a
two percentage point increase over 10 years.
"Over the past year, the percentage also increased
for ages 62 to 74, but dropped for those age 75 and older.
"For the 10-year period, the percentage increased
for both the 62-to-74-year-olds (2.9 percentage points) and the 75 and
older subgroups (2.5 percentage points).
"The numbers confirm the importance of Social
Security and its role as the mainstay of retirees income. Even though
aggregate wealth recovered in 2003 and 2004 from the sharp declines in
the previous two years, growth in income from assets has had little
impact on the overall measure of reliance on Social Security.
"It is possible that the reduced reliance on
Social Security also could be construed as a diminution in well-being if
it were a result of a reduction in Social Security benefits. While
Social Security benefits have not been reduced, any reductions in Social
Security that increase the relative importance of other income sources
would obviously leave people worse off."
For the full report on the AARP study -
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