7A
NEWS^e C$arlone $ot
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Elderly poor scrape by
Continued from page 1A
expenses. Albert has been a
diabetic for over 20 years and
each of his legs were ampu
tated in 1999 due to the sick
ness. He consumes four types
of pills daily and those quick
ly add up.
“My medication for three
months cost $350,” Albert
said. And that price t^ will go
up since his doctor recently
prescribed two more medica
tions to him.
Catherine’s two forms of
medication are $150 for three
months. The cost of Albert’s
medications increased fix)m
$10 a bottle at Eckerd to over
$350 because he is now forced
receive his meds via mail.
Bills and medications total
over $1,300, well over their
income fiom social security
Albert said he is so thankful
for his wife’s dieck because
the two chedis together are
their only means of survival.
“If it wasn’t for her little
check, I don’t know what we’d
do,” he said.
Elderly poor are
mostly women
The U.S. Census Bui*eau
conducted a three-year study
from 1998 to 2000 of people 65
years and over who were
below 150 percent of the fed
eral poverty level. Only nine
of 50 states and the District of
Columbia were ahead of
North Carolina.
The Census Bureau reports
that the total population of
elderly is 31,877,000 and 10.8
percent or 3,428,000 are poor.
Two of the largest groups of
elderly poor are women and
blacks. Of the dderly popula
tion, 6.8 percent (912,000) are
male and 13.6 percent
(2,516,000) are females. The
poverty rate of elderly blacks
and Hispanics are more than
twice that of elderly whites in
the coimtry also.
The explanation for the
accelerated population of
elderly women in poverty
appears simple. Women tend
to live longer than men, ulti
mately resulting in many
dderly women beii^ widows.
Depending on their work life,
women are less likely to have
a pension or major p^ision
plan between spouses for the
retirement years. Because
women on average outHve
men, women have to deplete
their pensions and the
spouse’s to provide long term
medical care for the husband
The explanation for why
more elderly blacks and
Hispanics are at the poverty
level is more complex, thou^.
Albert believes it’s all about
education.
Both the Royals grew up on
farms, Albert with 10 siblings
and Catherine with eight.
Neither finished hi^ school,
so when they moved to
Charlotte, they were looking
for any job they could get.
Albert held down several jobs,
sometimes making no more
than $1 an hour and was
blown away by the salaries
his four military sons had.
‘1 had never made that kind
of money” Albert said.
He is thankful for the little
education he did get to pick
up while helping on the fami
ly farm. Alb«i; believes a bet
ter education would’ve meant
a higher salary and ultimate
ly a better standard of living
now.
“By me having to struggle
and having no education, I
didn’t get much salary,” Albert
said
Sisters Odessa and Juanita
Little, who also live in the
Cherry community, never
married or had children.
Tether their Social Security
checks add up to just over
$11,000 a year but unlike the
Royals, the Littles are receiv
ing additional assistance.
Thdr home is cleaned, break
fasts made, laundry done, and
trips to the drug store are
made possible, throu^ home
healthcare five days a week.
Odessa, 87, who has dia
betes and rheumatoid arthri
tis, consumes four types of
medication. She has been on
Medicaid for less than a year
while her sister, who is not on
Medicaid, takes two forms of
medication One bottle of 30
pills costs $128. Juanita, 80, is
still payii^ on the bill she
accumulated fiom staying in
a nm’sing home that cost $ 125
a day Odessa paid $4,000
after staying in a nursing
home for three months.
Before the Medicaid bene
fits, Odessa said her fixed
income “wasn’t hardly
enough.” The .amoimt she
received monthly was
increased by less than $100
with Medicaid calculated into
it.
Where’s the help?
Council Nedd, director of
the Washington, D.C.-based
Alliance for Health Education
and Development, is a
Medicare expert whose mis
sion is to provide resources of
healthcare while assisting
and informing seniors of the
opportunities available to
them.
Nedd said more seniors
should take advantage of
Medicare, the federal health
insurance program for seniors
and the disabled, but thei’e’s a
stigma, relating it only to poor
people.
“Medicare is for all s^or
citizens,” Nedd said.
According to Nedd,
Medicare is a government
safety net for seniors, but
many eligible seniors don’t
signup.
;“A lot of people didn’t
know...about the changes in
Medicare. Seniors could be
eligible for $1200 in health
care benefits.”
The financial assistance is
available through the
Medicare Modernization Act
and if seniors had signed up
in 2004, they would have been
eligible for $1200 for prescrip
tion drugs - $600 last year
and another $600 would be
awarded the 1st quarter of
this year. The amount is now
a prorated dollar amount.
Millions of seniors signed up
for the program, but accord
ing to Nedd, “Only 20 pecent
of eli^le'seniors signed up.”
In a way, the government
has completely redone bene
fits programs, Nedd says.
“Until Last year. Medicare
did not have a prescription
drug concern at all,” he said.
“Hands-on medical care was
the concern at the time.”
In 2006, Ned said Medicare
will have in place a full pre
scription drug pmgram and
this is long past due.
Nedd said, “One of the
choices we don’t want them
[seniors] to make is Do I pay
for this drug or should I eat
today?”’
There is yet another con
cern of Nedd’s, though.
“There might be someone
who’s 60 years old...and in a
position not old enough for
Medicare and doesn’t have
benefits,” Nedd said. “Those
are the people we should be
concamed about.”
If seniors had enrolled in
the Medicare Discount
Program by June of this year,
they might have been entitled
to a $300 credit in 2005 for the
purchase of prescription med
icines. Many seniors were
unaware of this program, but
the Rev. H^h Rhedrick, min
ister to the senior adults
DeiVision (God’s \^ion) pix)-
gram, is directing a ministry
at Friendship Missionaiy
Baptist Church to ensure that
not only seniors, but anyone
55 and oldei' remain aware of
the resources afforded to
them.
Rhedrick said the church
has over 1,000 seniors and up
to 125 people appeal' at thefr
monthly meetings, where
they attract speakers to teach
on the topics of the cost and
pixxjedure for adult health-
cai'e and prescription drugs,
financial planning, tax work
shops, and MedAssist, a
Charlotte service that pi’o-
vides low-income
Mecklenburg coimty resi
dents with fiee medications,
healthcare advocacy and
related educational services.
The monthly meetings and
services at the church are not
limited to FMBC membei's.
“These sessions are open to
the community,” Rev.
Rhedrick said.
like Albert who is unable to
get to a church or other events
where information for seniors
is often disseminated. Rev.
Rhediick said seniors remain
out of the know because of the
condition of their physical
health.
“Health doesn’t allow them
[seniors] to get out to church
where information is given
out...you’ve missed out there,”
Rev. Rhedrick said. “They
may not have access to news-
papei's. They [indigent
seniors] don’t have a car to lis
ten to the radio.”
Before retiring, Albert was
mandated to participate in a
retirement school where he
said he learned that, “your
last three years of working,
you need to try to make as
much as you can,” Albert said.
According to Albert, when
he and others retired, they
were assured that their life
insurance would be paid by
the city for the rest of their
lives.
“They did it for one year
after we retired,” he said.
Albeit said after that year,
they were told that they
would have to pay it them
selves.
“Thae’s no way in the world
we could have paid that,” he
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