Women's Reliance on Social Security and Medicare

The High-Risk of Aging Into Poverty or 

Social Security is a Feminist Issue

Over the last week, the two parties in the US tried to reach agreement about a relief package providing benefits during the pandemic that would help unemployed people buy food and other necessities and forestall evictions from housing.  When impasse in the negotiations continued, Trump stepped in with several (potentially unlawful) executive orders providing some relief. However, he also gave employees and employees relief from payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare benefits for older people in the US.

This week a Democratic campaign strategist, Paul Begala, discussed his book, You're Fired: The Perfect Guide to Beating Donald Trump (Simon & Schuster 2020).  In an interview, he said that Democratic candidates should run on this messaging: the GOP wants to gut Social Security (SS), Medicare, and Medicaid, and abolish the Affordable Health Care Act during a pandemic.  

This attack on Social Security and Medicare is a reflection of systemic misogyny.

This summer I am reading Susan J. Douglas, In our Prime: How Older Women are Reinventing the Road Ahead (Norton 2020).  Chapter 6 of the book on women and retirement is so disturbing, I had to put it in the freezer for awhile. Any attack on Social Security and Medicare has a disproportionate impact on women. We live longer, and we make less money over the course of our careers because of systemic misogyny.

The defunding effort began in the Reagan administration fostered by right-wing think tanks, including the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute.. They came up with the messaging about the inevitable bankruptcy of these trust funds. It was designed to drive a wedge between old and young and defund the safety net for all of us.

Here's some data. Fifty-five percent of SS recipients are women. More women than ever are over 50 years old. In 2016, median income of people 65 and older was $31,000 for men and $18,000 (!) for women (an amount that is impossible to live on). For Black women, the average SS income in 2014 was $12,640! In 2016, the average SS income for a woman over the age of 65 was a shocking $13,891, way below 28 other countries, including Turkey, Denmark, Iceland, France, and Estonia. 

For 61 percent of seniors, SS is their major source of income. For 33 percent, it provides 90 percent (or more) of income. For older single women, the reliance on the program is greater. Almost half of women over the age of 75 live alone with no one to share expenses.

Older women are 80 percent more likely to end up in poverty than men. Boomers were the first generation required to fund their own retirement benefits (more neoliberal economics). Only 55 percent have any money saved.  

This February 2020 article provides more information: Eric Reed, What is the Average Retirement Savings? How much does the average American have saved for retirement? Nothing. Nothing at all., The Street (Feb. 11, 2020):

According to a 2018 study by Northwestern Mutual, 21% of Americans have no retirement savings and an additional 10% have less than $5,000 in savings. A third of Baby Boomers currently in, or approaching, retirement age have between nothing and $25,000 set aside. 

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) paints an even bleaker picture. Their data from 2013 reports that "nearly half of families have no retirement account savings at all." For most age groups, the group found, "median account balances in 2013 were less than half their pre-recession peak and lower than at the start of the new millennium."  

The EPI further found these numbers even worse for millennials. Nearly six in 10 have no retirement savings whatsoever."

For people aged 65-74, the average retirement account is $358,000, and the median retirement account is $126,000.  These balances reflect some retirement drawn downs, but for the group that is a bit younger, the numbers are not much higher.  For people aged 55 - 64. the average retirement account is $374,000, and the median retirement account is $120,000. Id.

In short, we can expect many Boomers, most of whom will be women, to age into poverty. Id.

I have been researching these issues for three reasons. I am planning to retire soon. I plan to retire abroad to live a better lifestyle on the money I have saved. I also plan to monetize a blog telling other women how to do it.