Summary
In Andrew Soergel’s article for the U.S. News, he focuses on how Northeastern senior citizens are struggling to make ends meet in order to support themselves financially, and even more so when living alone. With this being said, seniors are more likely to go into poverty because they don’t have enough resources to2 cover what they need in their daily lives. For instance, a study operated by researchers in the University of Massachusetts have stated that Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts have the largest percentages of seniors of at least 65 years old who cannot pay for the basic needs required to support themselves (Soergel, 2019). Massachusetts alone has 60% of seniors living by themselves and 30% of seniors living with another that are considered as economically unstable (Soergel, 2019). Without help from the government support programs, seniors are increasingly going into poverty. In like manner, when elderly adults have poor income it results in not being able to be independent, to receive the proper healthcare they need, and the desire of living out their days in a place they can call home. Many seniors are leaning towards poverty because they sit right above the poverty line, which makes them unqualified for government support. While that is the case, Social Security payments are the best things going financially for most seniors, while other solutions are being created.
Sociological Reflection
As many people may have noticed, seniors are more vulnerable towards poverty and are less likely to be able to provide for themselves financially as younger adults are capable of. As discussed in class, elders have a hard time taking care of themselves due to the low income rates they receive, leaving 9 percent of people over the age of 65 in poverty (Galta, Chapter 2 Lecture, 2020). In addition, it is even more challenging for a senior to support themselves while living by themselves. Think about the following for a moment. Living expenses can be pricey for some of those young adults who live on their own, regardless of how hard they work at their jobs. Now this is young adults we are talking about here. Now imagine a senior trying to cover the expenses for their basic needs. Most seniors retire, so they don’t earn nearly as much as they have before in order to support themselves. This being said, some might think that seniors should be taken care of with programs to help support them, but according to the article, assisting seniors are not a priority. Even though that may be the case, there are little things such as Social Security payments that can help our fellow seniors while bigger solutions are being created.
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