The elderly population is growing rapidly, both in the United States and worldwide (Kaveny 15). The U. S. Census Bureau predicts that by 2005, one fifth of Americans will be over age 65. The most dramatic change is in the number of people over the age of 85 years. Two thirds of those over age 65 in America are women, and in the over 85 years group, three quarters of them are women. While 74 percent of men over the age of 65 still have living wives, only 40 percent of women over age 65 still have husbands living (18). This makes women not only a disproportionate component of the elderly, but also a disproportionate component of the elderly who are living alone, with little in the way of financial support, and often, less access to appropriate medical care than men of the same age, according to Kaveny. For example, Medicare provides better coverage for mostly elderly menÆs illnesses (e.g. lung cancer, prostate cancer, acute myocardial infarction) than it does for elderly womenÆs health problems (osteoporosis, arthritis, depression).
Poverty among the elderly is a widespread problem in America with serious consequences for the victims. Rank and Hirschl estimate that at least 40 percent of the American elderly population will spend at least a year below the poverty level when between the ages of 60 years and 90 years (184), and that 48 percent will experience poverty at the 125 percent level while in this age bracket. These figures increase dramatically for those who are Black, unmarried, and/or have less than 12 years of education. Their study was based on a series of life tables based upon 25 sets of results from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, which also found that the life-span risk of experiencing poverty was stable throughout the period of study (1969-1992).
Elderly women are far more likely to experience poverty than elderly men (Kaveny 18) are. They comprise 58 percent of the American elderly, yet account f...