Congressional Research Service, (2021) suggest that among the aged population (persons aged 65 and older) in the United States, the poverty rate (the percentage of individuals living in poverty, or economic hardship characterized by low income) has declined by over two-thirds in the past five decades. In 2019, approximately 8.9% of aged individuals had income below the poverty thresholds (dollar amounts used to determine poverty status).

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) are the main federally funded programs that provide cash benefits to the aged poor. They accounted for almost 90% of total money income received by the aged population whose incomes were below the poverty thresholds in 2019. The federal government also provides certain noncash benefits to help the aged poor, such as housing subsidies and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (Congressional Research Service, 2021).

To address Social Securitys long-known financing shortfalls, whether driven by insufficient trust fund assets to pay full Social Security benefits, the impact of rising Social Security deficits on governments debt, or the declining share of the budget devoted to many other social and economic needs, stronger antipoverty needs to be placed into law by members of Congress and others (Steuerle, Smith, 2021).

Despite a growing economy and ever-higher average lifetime benefits, our systems of care for older adults have not fully dealt with poverty among people with disabilities and those in old age (Steuerle, Smith, 2021). Several proposals for Social Security reform e.g., the Johnson proposal, Social Security Reform Act of 2016 to reduce the rate of growth of benefits, The Larson proposal, Social Security 2100 Act achieves solvency through revenue increases and the BPC proposal a bipartisan policy that would increase taxes and reduce benefits in roughly equal portions (Steuerle, Smith, 2021).

References

Congressional Research Service (2021) Poverty Among the Population Aged 65 and Older-https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45791.pdf

Steuerle, E., Smith, K., (2021). First Things First: How Social Security Reform Can Eliminate Elderly Poverty https://www.urban.org/research/publication/first-things-first-how-social-security-reform-can-eliminate-elderly-poverty