As the cost of living continues to rise Natrell Jamerson Jersey , more and more Americans are falling into poverty. About 46 million people, or around one in six Americans, are currently at or below the poverty line. These folks have a combined income of $18,000 a year or less for a family of four. Most rely on federal assistance and help programs such as food stamps to make ends meet. The rest must pinch every penny and hope that nothing unexpected occurs.
How did it happen?
From colonial times to the Great Depression to today, there has always been poverty in America. But the 27 percent increase in penury over the last six years is more than a mere anomaly; it is a frightening trend that threatens the future of the middle class. These are the people who do most of the work and pay most of the bills in America. When they fall into poverty and stop producing as they did before, the nation itself is put in jeopardy.
Changing demographics
One of the many explanations for rising poverty rates in the U.S. is that the proportion of retired people to working people is higher than ever. In other words Rick Leonard Jersey , we have an aging population that must be supported by fewer workers than in the past. This situation creates an unavoidable imbalance in large social programs such as Medicare and Social Security, whose primary purpose is to take care of the elderly. The only way to keep them afloat is to make cuts, which appears to be inevitable at this point.
Senior citizens (those over the age of 65) are not only the fastest growing group in the U.S. They are also the most vulnerable one. Because many of them are retired, most do not have a regular source of income and must rely on their Social Security checks. Even with these monthly payments, most seniors must live on a fixed budget. But as basic expenses like transportation, food Tre'Quan Smith Jersey , housing, and health care continue to rise, more and more elderly people are falling behind. A significant number of them, about 10 percent, live at or below the federal poverty line.
Paying for health care
As a general rule, human beings get sicker as they age. Their bodies are not only more susceptible to acute illnesses P.J. Williams Saints Jersey , but also to chronic ones. Because they can be successfully managed for years, even decades, it is these chronic diseases that are driving up health care costs. No matter what they do in Washington, prices will continue to increase as the elderly population grows.
The single most pervasive and therefore expensive chronic illness in America is diabetes. It costs about six times more to treat either the Type 1 or Type 2 form of the disease than it does to care for a healthy person on an annual basis. At last count, nearly 26 million Americans had been diagnosed with diabetes, and an alarming 42 percent of them were senior citizens!
Even with insurance Andrus Peat Saints Jersey , Medicare, or Medicaid, people who suffer from the disease face substantial out-of-pocket expenses. According to a recent study from Consumer Reports Health, the average diabetic person spends around $6,000 each year for treatment. It is possible to reduce these costs with the help of a diabetic drugstore.