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A Model for Elder Care? Supported Housing Offers Some Hope for the Future
Much of what I’ve been writing about lately are the dire prospects for elder care when the oldest baby boomers begin reaching their late 80s within a decade. The challenges we will face are exacerbated by the physical design of our communities based on single-family homes scattered around the suburbs. This leads to the isolation of seniors, especially when driving becomes difficult and older adults can become confined to their homes. It can also make it expensive to provide services in their homes as home care workers, visiting nurses, and other providers must travel relatively long distances to serve their clients. Fortunately, there’s an alternative. In my latest Risking Old Age in America podcast, Lizbeth Heyer, President of 2Life Communities in greater Boston, describes…
January 14, 2025
State Auto-IRA Savings Could Affect Medicaid Eligibility
Low-income retired couples with less than $3,000 in assets can get Medicaid to supplement their Medicare insurance or pay for a nursing home. This asset cap, set by state governments, mainly applies to financial accounts and excludes the value of a home and vehicle. But Medicaid coverage in old age could conflict with auto-IRA initiatives in a growing number of states – 16 so far – that are designed to help workers without an employer 401(k) save for retirement. The substantial savings workers will build up in these auto-IRAs could make some ineligible for the extra health insurance coverage once they retire, even if their income meets the program’s income cap, according to a new study by the Center for…
January 9, 2025
Racial Inequities Carry Over from Work to Retirement
The Social Security Administration encourages applicants for its research grants to explore “the structural barriers that may contribute to disparate outcomes among people who have been historically underserved, marginalized, or adversely affected by persistent poverty.” Numerous studies resulting from this research agenda reveal deep differences in how older Black and White Americans experience work and retirement. The studies have been conducted by researchers around the country, and many have been covered in this blog over the past year, which is also supported through a grant from Social Security. Consider some studies that have relevance for a central argument made by financial advisers – that the best route to security in retirement is for older workers to delay signing up for…
January 2, 2025
Retiring from Farming is Complex and Not Always Planned
The decision to retire is complex enough. But throw a family farm into the mix and it introduces a host of issues most people never think about. How long will the farmer be physically capable of doing this work? Are any of the adult children willing to take over the operation, and which one? Will the farm continue to eke out a profit, and could it be sold to another farmer or agribusiness? And these decisions are not easy for aging farmers who have spilled blood, sweat and tears on the land for decades. A survey created to explore their unique concerns takes a first stab at understanding the resources available to help farmers devise their unusually complex retirement plans…
December 19, 2024
Happy Holidays!
We hope our readers have a joyful holiday season and a peaceful new year. We’ll return Jan. 2 with a recap of some of our 2024 blogs!…
December 17, 2024
Moving from Medicaid to Medicare May Mean Better Care
Medicare accounts for more than 10 percent of federal spending. Medicaid, which covers 90 million low-income workers and disabled people, has the largest enrollment of any government insurance program. The conventional wisdom on these major programs is that Medicaid, which pays less for physicians’ services, provides lower-quality medical care than Medicare. But research is scant on whether that’s the case and where the Medicaid coverage might fall short. A new study focused on an older population with a high need for care found that total government spending on each Medicare patient is $2,100 more than the spending on each Medicaid patient – or an additional 13 percent. Harvard University and World Bank researchers used federal data to track two groups of…
December 12, 2024
Report Paints Picture of Care Workers in the United States
This post was written by Harry Margolis, a new contributor to the Squared Away Blog. I’ve been ringing the alarm about the coming elder care crisis beginning in about a decade when the oldest baby boomers start reaching their late 80s. One of the biggest challenges will be the shortage of direct care workers. PHI, a nonprofit that supports care workers, recently issued a report: Direct Care Workers in the United States: Key Facts 2024. Here are some of its findings: Low Pay Female, Older, People of Color Overall, the report tells us that we rely on a low-income, female, largely minority and immigrant workforce to care for our elderly and disabled citizens. As the need for elder care grows, t…
December 10, 2024
Delaying Social Security Helps All Couples but High-income Couples More
The longer a husband delays his Social Security retirement benefits, the larger the check his wife will get when he dies. And odds are that he’ll die first, so that decision to delay will leave her with more income every month into her 80s or even 90s. This fairly common marriage arrangement – a husband who earns more than a younger working wife – is the focus of new research analyzing how much these couples receive in total Social Security benefits under the program’s rules. This hinges not only on how long a husband waits to sign up for his benefits, which increases his monthly check, but also on how long he will live and collect them. The disparity in…
December 5, 2024
Casinos on Tribal Lands Boost Economies – and Longevity
Native Americans die 12 to 13 years earlier on average than Whites. Extreme poverty on reservations has been linked to alcoholism, addiction, and deaths of despair. Poor health played out dramatically during COVID, when Native Americans had some of the highest death rates in the country. But they can live slightly longer when a casino is built on tribal lands, a new study finds. What’s the connection? White Americans live longer, thanks to higher incomes they use to pay for quality medical care and food and safe housing. A similar effect comes from successful gambling operations that generate income for tribal governments and put more money into the local economy as workers patronize stores, restaurants, farms, and entertainment venues, according to researchers…
November 26, 2024
Up to 480,000 More Children Might be Eligible for SSI
In most states, when the low-income families of a child with a disability receive cash payments from the federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, the child is automatically eligible for Medicaid health insurance. In reality, up to 480,000 children on Medicaid who might also be eligible for SSI are not receiving it, according to a new study by researchers at Colgate University, Westat, and Mathematica. This means that only about seven out of 10 of the children likely to be eligible for SSI are currently enrolled. These are children whose disabilities typically require intensive medical care and could potentially benefit from the extra $943 a month to help their families pay for their care. The estimate of many more eligible children comes after…