(no subject)
It disturbs me to read about social security nutcases. I'm going to try and dissect this painlessly as possible.
Imaginary Statistics - Social Security Keeps 89% of our senior citizens out of poverty. * oops, this says 2001. I'm still positive it wasn't 89% in 2001. ;)
Just because the current poverty population is around 10.9% for the elderly, it does not mean the other 90% are relying on social security. Get real.
The average monthly income for a person living on social security is $955 Not what you expect? I was surprised too. The average monthly Medicare preimum is $78.20 (in same article). Assuming the average senior citizen takes advantage of this. The monthly income would be near $877. This is a yearly income of $10,524 from social security. The poverty line for a single senior citizen is $9,060 for a single senior and $11,418 for a couple. For a single citizen, this senior is barely living over the poverty line. Based on several findings for several states, this article says around 50% would have fallen below the poverty line if it weren't for social security. Much more conservative than the earlier 89%.
Does this still seem fishy to you? It should.
Since there's no data for 2004, I'll use 2003. I highly doubt it's changed much. Especially with the numbers I'll give.
The poverty line for the US in 2003 was $8,825
There was about 3.2m senior citizens living in poverty in 2003. I'll use the 2005 medicare and Social Security income since I'm too lazy to look for 2003's. I'll just say anyone who made less than $20,000 would have been in poverty if it were not for social security. This makes nearly 6.5m would have been in poverty if it weren't for social security. In 2003, there were 23m senior citizens. This equates to roughly 28% of the senior citizens would have been in poverty it weren't for social security. This assumes the senior citizen is using medicare. If they're not, then it'll cut more into the next level, but barely.
I guess people would then start commenting about people over 75. Well, since the average age is in the mid 70s and rising. I guess I could go ahead prove it with the 75 crowd and laugh at you. Roughly 1.8m citizens over 75 were under the poverty line in 2003. Roughly 4m would have been in poverty if not for social security. This results in about 35%. This is still not 89%. It's still not 53%.
To add, the average income was $23,787. An average senior citizen made roughly $15,000 more than the poverty line (or nearly 170% over) and social security account for less than 45% of the annual income. So much for social security being the big 89% factor.
Imaginary Statistics - Social Security Keeps 89% of our senior citizens out of poverty. * oops, this says 2001. I'm still positive it wasn't 89% in 2001. ;)
Just because the current poverty population is around 10.9% for the elderly, it does not mean the other 90% are relying on social security. Get real.
The average monthly income for a person living on social security is $955 Not what you expect? I was surprised too. The average monthly Medicare preimum is $78.20 (in same article). Assuming the average senior citizen takes advantage of this. The monthly income would be near $877. This is a yearly income of $10,524 from social security. The poverty line for a single senior citizen is $9,060 for a single senior and $11,418 for a couple. For a single citizen, this senior is barely living over the poverty line. Based on several findings for several states, this article says around 50% would have fallen below the poverty line if it weren't for social security. Much more conservative than the earlier 89%.
Does this still seem fishy to you? It should.
Since there's no data for 2004, I'll use 2003. I highly doubt it's changed much. Especially with the numbers I'll give.
The poverty line for the US in 2003 was $8,825
There was about 3.2m senior citizens living in poverty in 2003. I'll use the 2005 medicare and Social Security income since I'm too lazy to look for 2003's. I'll just say anyone who made less than $20,000 would have been in poverty if it were not for social security. This makes nearly 6.5m would have been in poverty if it weren't for social security. In 2003, there were 23m senior citizens. This equates to roughly 28% of the senior citizens would have been in poverty it weren't for social security. This assumes the senior citizen is using medicare. If they're not, then it'll cut more into the next level, but barely.
I guess people would then start commenting about people over 75. Well, since the average age is in the mid 70s and rising. I guess I could go ahead prove it with the 75 crowd and laugh at you. Roughly 1.8m citizens over 75 were under the poverty line in 2003. Roughly 4m would have been in poverty if not for social security. This results in about 35%. This is still not 89%. It's still not 53%.
To add, the average income was $23,787. An average senior citizen made roughly $15,000 more than the poverty line (or nearly 170% over) and social security account for less than 45% of the annual income. So much for social security being the big 89% factor.