The Poor, the Rich, and the Insecure Elderly Caught in Between

Abstract

Although the elderly are as well or perhaps better off on average than younger groups, measures of the elderly's economic well-being have to gauge the security of their income and assets relative to the financial and health problems they may face. These measures include the adequacy of older Americans' health insurance vis-à-vis their health status, and the sufficiency of their resources to meet possible contingencies, such as severe inflation and costs of long-term care. By applying such measures to the 1984 Survey of Income and Program Participation, 4.5 million elderly may be categorized as economically insecure. Action is needed to ease the insecurity current public and private insurance policy implicitly imposes on this group, which constitutes 20 percent of the elderly population.