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Demographicchallengeandlongevityinsurancebenefits
2.RISKOFPOVERTYANDMEDICALEXPENSESINCREASE
ATOLDERAGES
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Thissectiondiscussestheincreasingriskofpovertyandmedicalexpenses
atolderages,focusingonthesituationintheUnitedStatesasanexample.Having
sufficientincomeinretirementisnotjustanissueofincome.Italsoinvolvesassets
andexpenditures.AmongAmericansbetweenage30and64,nothavingenough
moneytolastinretirementistheirtopfinancialworry,accordingtotheGallup
organization.Runningoutofmoneyinretirementhasbeenonthetopmoney-
worrylistofAmericanssince2000[Dugan2014].
Boththeriskofpovertyandmedicalexpensesincreaseatolderages.Povertyin
theUnitedStatesishighamongpeopleage80andolderathirdhigherthanfor
peopleage65-69.Povertyisparticularlyaproblemforolderwomen.Womenage
80andolderhadapovertyrateof13.9percentin2012,and22.8percenthadin-
comebelow125percentofthepovertyline,comparedto8.9percentand13.0per-
centforwomenage65to69,indicatinga56.2percentincrease(5.0percentage
points)inthepovertyrateforolderwomen[SocialSecurityAdministration2014].
AreasonfortheincreaseinpovertyisthatpeopleatolderagestendtorelyonSo-
cialSecurityforanincreasingproportionoftheirretirementincome.Thatincrease
occursbecauseofadeclineintheimportanceofothersourcesofretirement
income.
Thesefiguresimperfectlymeasurehowpovertyratesincreaseaspeopleage.
Duetothegreatermortalityriskoflow-incomepersons,thesefiguresunderstate
thepercentageofolderwomenwhohavefallenintopovertywhowerenotinpov-
ertyearlierinlife.Iftherewerenochangeinthepovertystatusofanyperson,the
povertyratewoulddeclineatolderagesduetohighermortalityratesforpeoplein
povertythanfortherestofthepopulation.Themeasuredstatisticsshowanin-
creaseinpovertyatolderages,butthatmeasureunderstatestheincreaseinpoverty
amongthesurvivors.Forexample,arecentstudyofmortalityofmalesfindsthatat
ages63to71,thehigherislifetimeincome,atleastuptoafairlyhighlevel,the
lowerismortalityrisk[Waldron2013].
DatafromIrelandshowasubstantialincreaseinmedicalexpensesatolderages.
ResearchbyRedmond[2015]onthecostofmedicationbyageshowsthatin2012
averageannualexpenditurebythoseunderage65was6406comparedwith61,377
forthoseage65-69and61,772forthoseage75andover.