Let’s say, for whatever reason, you arrive at the age of 65 as a US citizen and are living more or less paycheck to paycheck. Do you work until you die? What if you have a heart attack or need medical care?
I know there’s “stuff” out there for people in distress, but never really contemplated the specifics of what the US social safety net has to offer. Let’s say I’m 65, impoverished and in poor health. What can I get access to? Do I starve? Where can I get housing?
You get medicare, same as everyone else. Plus you would get medicade to cover other health expenses. You get some minimal amount of Social Security, if that leaves you below the poverty line, you get food stamps.
All in all, it sounds like you get a second career filling out forms.
You can get your full Social Security benefits at 67, if born after 1960, or 65 if born before that, or partial benefits starting at 62. Medicare health insurance automatically starts at 65. If you’re disabled and can’t work, you can get SSI. These payments are all based on how long you worked during your life and how much you’ve paid in. I just got my annual statement yesterday, which says that if I became disabled today I’d get $700 a month, and I haven’t worked very much in my life, so I imagine if someone worked for 40 or 50 years it would be much, much more. As for housing, there are senior programs for reduced rent, or you could get a reverse mortgage if you own your house. Food stamps are also a possibility if your income is low.
Life may not be easy if you were actually in this situation, but I believe there are enough social programs that, combined with Social Security, SSI if applicable, and Medicare, could allow you to live moderately comfortably.
Not quite. Here you can compute when you can get benefits, based on year of birth.
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/ageincrease.htm
wrong thread :smack:
Ah, yes- according to my statement, the full retirement age will increase gradually to 67 for those born in 1960 or later.
And anyone born 1938 or later will not be able to retire on full benefits until sometime after they turn 65.
Other than impoverished and in poor health, what else do you have going for you? My grandfather was in this situation about 15-20 years ago (he’s still working in his mid-80s now), but he was also a World War II vet, and was able to find some assistance through a veteran’s network.
Although the US does not have a lot of governmental assistance set up for people in this situation that I know about, there are a lot of privately-run charities around that you might be eligible for (we’re renowned for that internationally), and you should definitely check those out.
Absolutely not comfortably. Medicare has a monthly cost for part b. You have to pay for prescriptions . Soc Sec as our food costs soar will not go far. gas prices will cripple you . It is not pretty.
Assisted Care for my mother is $2500 a month for an efficiency with bath. They provide meals, laundry, and cleaning. The living area has a small living room with room for a twin bed and a small refrigerator, sink and cabinets. This is in the South and would be more elsewhere. Her medicines cost about $500 a month. A nursing home would cost more. This is the GI Generation.
Her grandchildren don’t call her (except, occasionally, to ask for loans).
What about reverse mortgages?
Reverse mortgages require equity. Then essentially you live off your equity until you die. Even if the equity disappears ,you can stay in the house til you die, or move. But you have nothing to pass along to heirs. Some lender will own the home.
Yes, but nursing homes are covered by Medicare if 1) a doctor agrees that the person should be in a nursing home and 2) the person has no assets.
The nursing home will take all the assets before Medicare kicks in. Hiding assets by moving them into children’s names is a whole area of Elder Care Law.
Despite all the doom and gloom, elderly people in the US are not thrown on the street if they have no money.
They used to eat cat food to survive but that is too expensive now. You define your gloom and doom. I think worrying endlessly how to obtain prescriptions and food in times of rapidly rising prices is not fun. Gas goes up 4 times,food doubles. Social security does not. Old folks can see the future for them and they are afraid. You would be scared too.
The person on SSI is getting about what a minimum wage job earns gross. They also get medicaid coverage which the minimum wage person doesn’t have. Neither have it easy.
The right answer is probably that you need to continue to work. Jobs can be difficult to come by at that age, but even crappy ones are probably better than your alternatives. If you’ve got family you can lean on them, of course (SSA reports that many people do this).
Really, the solution to the problem is prevention. Just like with smoking until your lungs turn black, there’s not a lot you can do after the fact. According to our society, living paycheck to paycheck is just as bad a later-lifestyle liability as smoking. Prevention would mostly include setting aside some money each week through not buying luxuries that everyone here seems to think are “needs” – cigarrettes, tv, cable, etc – and putting that into an interest-bearing account, preferably a stock index (S&P 500 index: >10% per year over any 20-year period you care to name). The only way you would know to do this, though, is to give yourself post-school education – read self-help books on money-management, etc, trying to learn such things.
Probably not a lot of comfort if this really is your situation, but maybe you can tell your kids and give them a leg up?
I would be getting my old ass to a third world country with sexy little women everywhere.