The federal poverty guidelines are not a realistic measure of who needs assistance making ends meet. We already have the best available data to support the claim that people living at or above the FPG, or on average social security payments in their region, are unable to meet the demands of a bare bones budget.

As the the statewide partner of Wider Opportunities for Women, the national convener of The Elder Economic Security Initiative (EESI)*. Health & Medicine Policy Research Group is building a strong statewide coalition to make economic security a greater reality for older people in Illinois.

We are in the process of convening sub-committees to work on policy and other initiatives and see our tasks as falling roughly into three categories:

• Preventive/Educational–For those individuals not yet retired, what strategies are important in trying to build their retirement income? (For some it may be a relatively modest decision– to not apply for social security benefits at the first possibility but to wait as long as possible. For others it is about pensions and savings. While we know that for lower income people options are limited, there usually is something that everyone can do to ease the situation even a little bit.)
• Remediation–For people who are already retired and find themselves living “in the gap” between income availability and the cost of living, what interventions at the federal, state and local levels can narrow that gap? (For most of these people, this difficulty emerged through no fault of their own, an important message to get across.)
  
• Building momentum—This is the most significant task. (It is critical that we get the message out to as many people as possible so that programs and policies which address prevention and remediation can be put in place. While older people may not be the poorest in this country any longer, largely thanks to social security, far too many, especially single women and women of color cannot make ends meet. Fifty-two percent of women of color will not be able to replace 50% of their pre-retirement income, which was not high to start with, when they retire.)

Please spend time reading the policy brief distributed at the recent press conference and the briefing; and review the statewide index breaking out by county what is required to live securely, in different family, health and housing configurations. Return often to this area of the website, as well as the “Related links & downloads” section to the right – to learn about progress on this vital initiative, and the ways you can participate.

For more information, please contact: Martha Holstein, State Coordinator, Elder Economic Security Initiative, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group Email Martha Holstein or call  (312) 372-4292 x 50

*The Elder Economic Security Initiative (EESI) is a trademark of Wider Opportunities for Women