Identifying the Poorest Older Americans

Fisher, Jonathan; Johnson, David S.; Marchand, Joseph; Smeeding, Timothy M.; Torrey, Barbara Boyle

doi:10.1093/geronb/gbp022

Cited by 21 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 10 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…4. Although there continues to be much discussion about alternative poverty measures (Fisher et al 2009), we use the federal poverty level, as it is the source of official statistics and forms a basis for eligibility to some public programs. 5.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security, economic well-being, and family context among child recipients

Tamborini

Cupito

2012

Journal of Children and Poverty

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The relationship between social insurance, which provides families protection against certain risks, and child economic security is understudied. Using the 2004 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) matched to Social Security Administration benefit records, this article investigates the economic welfare effects of the child component of the US Social Security program. We examine how the poverty rate of child beneficiaries would change, absent Social Security income, and how heavily the family incomes of these children rely on it, by family characteristics. Our findings reveal that Social Security plays an important role in mitigating economic insecurity among children deprived of a wage-earning parent through disability, death, or retirement. Family structure, earnings, and employment status are identified as key factors moderating the effect of Social Security on child recipients' financial circumstance.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security, economic well-being, and family context among child recipients

Tamborini

Cupito

2012

Journal of Children and Poverty

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some of these extend the traditional approach to the adequacy of retirement wealth by comparing annuitized income streams to the poverty level or some other threshold level of expenditure required to meet basic needs; others compare actual income to the poverty level, while still others compare actual consumption to the poverty level (Brady 2010; Fisher et al 2009; Haveman et al 2003; Haveman et al 2006; Haveman et al 2007; Hungerford 2001; Johnson and Mermin 2009; Love, Smith, and McNair 2008; VanDerhei and Copeland 2010). An important subset of these papers focus on the high rate of poverty among elderly widows (Bound et al 1991; Gillen and Kim 2009; McGarry 1995; McGarry and Schoeni 2005; Sevak, Weir, and Willis 2003; Weir and Willis 2000; Zick and Holden 2000).…”

Section: Previous Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income, Poverty, and Material Hardship Among Older Americans

Levy¹

2015

RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using data from the 2008 and 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to analyze the determinants of material hardship among individuals ages sixty-five and older, I look at five self-reported hardships: food insecurity, skipped meals, medication cutbacks, difficulty paying bills, and dissatisfaction with one’s financial situation. One-fifth of the elderly report one or more of these hardships. Although hardship is more likely for those with low incomes, most older Americans experiencing hardship are not poor. I analyze whether alternative measures of resources do a better job of predicting hardship than does income relative to the federal poverty threshold. I find that spending relative to the poverty threshold does a worse job predicting hardship than does income relative to poverty. Subtracting out-of-pocket medical spending from income yields a measure that is an even better predictor of hardship. In multivariate models, I find that self-reported health, activity limitations, and disability are significant predictors of hardship. Having reliable children (as assessed by the respondent) or an able-bodied spouse reduces the likelihood of hardship. Poor health increases hardship through three channels: by lowering income, by increasing out-of-pocket medical spending, and through its direct effect on hardship. The first two of these—lower income and higher medical spending—are much less quantitatively important than the third; in a nutshell, poor health makes it harder to get by with less.

show abstract

Section: How Poor Are the Low-income Elderly?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several studies demonstrate that the "income poor" elderly, on average, consume much more than their income (Meyer and Sullivan, 2010a;Charles et al, 2006;Fisher et al 2009). For example, Fisher et al (2009) report that nearly three quarters of income-poor persons aged 65 and older were not "consumption poor" (i.e., consume or spend less than the OPM--Official Poverty Measure--threshold). 13 Among the income poor who were not consumption poor, median assets (and net worth) totaled $70,000 to $80,000, in dollars of 2003, based on data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) averaged over 1983-2003(Fisher et al 2009).…”

Section: How Poor Are the Low-income Elderly?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Fisher et al (2009) report that nearly three quarters of income-poor persons aged 65 and older were not "consumption poor" (i.e., consume or spend less than the OPM--Official Poverty Measure--threshold). 13 Among the income poor who were not consumption poor, median assets (and net worth) totaled $70,000 to $80,000, in dollars of 2003, based on data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) averaged over 1983-2003(Fisher et al 2009). Yet, median assets of the elderly today are substantially higher than in the 1980s and 1990s, suggesting that asset holdings for the low-income elderly are higher today.…”

Section: How Poor Are the Low-income Elderly?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Rethinking Elderly Poverty: Time for a Health Inclusive Poverty Measure?

Korenman¹,

Remler²

2013

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Census's Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) nearly doubles the elderly poverty rate compared to the "Official" Poverty Measure (OPM), a result of the SPM subtraction of medical out-of-pocket (MOOP) expenditures from income. Neither the SPM nor OPM counts health benefits or assets as resources. Validation studies suggest that subtracting MOOP from resources worsens a poverty measure's predictive validity and excluding assets exacerbates this bias, since assets fund MOOP.The SPM is based on a 1995 NAS report that recommended a health-exclusive poverty measure, despite considering it, conceptually, a "second best" to a Health-Inclusive Poverty Measure (HIPM). We analyze the reasons for the NAS recommendation and argue that constructing a HIPM is now feasible if we conceptualize health needs as a need for health insurance, and if plans with non-risk-rated premiums and caps on MOOP are universally available, a condition largely met by the Affordable Care Act and Medicare Advantage Plans.We describe four HIPM variants and present analyses that suggest the SPM treatment of MOOP results in a less valid measure of elderly poverty and an overstatement of the elderly poverty rate (by up to 5.5 percentage points or 50 percent). Many elderly classified as poor by the SPM's unlimited MOOP deduction are not poorly insured persons with incomes near the poverty line, but well-insured persons with incomes well above the poverty line.

show abstract

Identifying the Poorest Older Americans

Abstract: The poorest among the older population are those who are income and consumption poor. Understanding the nature of this double poverty population is important in measuring the success of future public policies to reduce poverty among this group.

Cited by 21 publications

References 10 publications

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security, economic well-being, and family context among child recipients

Social insurance and children: The relationship between Social Security, economic well-being, and family context among child recipients

Income, Poverty, and Material Hardship Among Older Americans

Rethinking Elderly Poverty: Time for a Health Inclusive Poverty Measure?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About