As the economy continues to tumble, many seniors are falling on hard times, but cutting corners can be deadly for older Americans.
A recent AARP study found that 59 percent of people over 65 are having a tough time paying for gas, food and medicine. To try and make ends meet, some are putting themselves in danger by cutting back on necessities like meals and medication, said Rob Bird, owner of Home Instead Senior Care in Wilmington.
“It’s a zero sum game for most of these folks on a fixed income and when things get out of line, they have to cut back on something,” he said.
Many times, medications are the first things to go.
Even with Medicare, some medicines require huge out of pocket co-payments, he said, making it tempting to reduce doses or skip a few pills to try and save a few dollars, said Bird.
But many medications, like the blood thinner Coumadin, which treats heart disease, must be measured very carefully to be effective, he said. Seniors who stop taking their blood pressure medications may not immediately feel the affects of hypertension, he said, and so they may not know they need the drug until it is too late.
Many seniors think a safer method of saving money is to cut back on air conditioning. But older people can dehydrate quickly in the heat, Bird said, and even after summer's gone, energy prices will continue to put seniors at risk if heating oil doubles in price this winter as predicted. Moreover, rising fuel prices have also driven up the cost of food, causing some seniors to skip meals.
Family members can be oblivious to this dangerous penny pinching, Bird said, especially if they are visiting less frequently because of high gas prices. And while calling parents or grandparents is wonderful, it does not substitute for a visit, as some seniors will downplay their hardships so they won't seem a burden on the family, said Bird.
“Getting old is not sexy. This is an under-served and neglected part of society,” he said. “There is not a magic solution to any of this: it’s just common sense.”
Economic woes have caused Wilmington resident Dorothy Bennett, 72, to tighten her purse strings. Bennett, a resident of Luther Towers retirement home, takes a cholesterol medication with no generic alternative, so she pays top dollar, and more of her pension goes toward prescription costs at a time when rent is steadily increasing, grocery prices have gone through the roof and she cannot afford to hire a home caregiver as often as she would like.
Finances are a stressful topic in these hard times, she said, but she tries to keep her chin up.
“I have faith and I look out for others and I get my mind off myself,” she said. “You can’t live in fear, so you just stay cautious and you trust in the Lord.”
Economic issues have not had such a dramatic affect on Bob Cates, 80, a resident of Cokesbury Village retirement community in Hockessin. Cates and his wife, Jeanne, have cut back on driving because of gasoline costs and they shop carefully, but he said those habits are not new.
“We grew up in a time when we had to pinch pennies, so shopping the sales and clipping coupons is a part of our lives and it always will be,” he said. “When these economic downturns come along, I always go back to what Franklin Roosevelt said: ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’”
