In the 1980s, I was laid off after working for five years.

I tried to get public assistance and was denied because although I was single parent, my

son was living with his mother in another state.

I'm 74 years old, living on Social Security and SSI, which comes to about 10,000 up

on 10,000 dollars a year.

I live in subsidized housing hood, which helps me a lot, but I still don't have enough.

Nearly six million American seniors are living at or below the poverty line.

During the pandemic, Americans over 55 lost their jobs at a higher rate than younger Americans.

The first time that's happened in over 50 years.

A million new seniors fell into poverty between 2020 and 2021.

The Social Security Administration recently announced that benefits for the 2023 calendar

year will increase by 8.7 percent, that's to adjust for the surging cost of inflation.

Medicaid premiums are set to decrease by a similar amount as well.

So what does that mean for seniors?

This episode is part of our series, The Price of Poverty, where we explore poverty in America.

Today, we're looking at the financial hardships facing Americans over 65.

I'm Jen White.

You're listening to the 1A podcast where we get to the heart of the story.

Stay with us.

We'll be back with our conversation in a moment.

We're starting our discussion with Sandy Kirk.

Sandy's from Marion, Virginia.

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