Bankruptcy Booms Among Older Americans

[uncle junior]

For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy.

The signs of potential trouble — vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings — have been building for years. Now, new research sheds light on the scope of the problem: The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and the same group accounts for a far greater share of all filers.

Driving the surge, the study suggests, is a three-decade shift of financial risk from government and employers to individuals, who are bearing an ever-greater responsibility for their own financial well-being as the social safety net shrinks.

The transfer has come in the form of, among other things, longer waits for full Social Security benefits, the replacement of employer-provided pensions with 401(k) savings plans and more out-of-pocket spending on health care. Declining incomes, whether in retirement or leading up to it, compound the challenge.


Cheryl Mcleod of Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy in January after struggling to keep up with her mortgage payments and other expenses. “I am 70, and I am working for less money than I ever did in my life,” she said. “This life stuff happens.”

As the study, from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, explains, older people whose finances are precarious have few places to turn. “When the costs of aging are off-loaded onto a population that simply does not have access to adequate resources, something has to give,” the study says, “and older Americans turn to what little is left of the social safety net — bankruptcy court.”


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/b...americans.html

[uncle junior]

Pretty depressing numbers.....

[TuskegeeBen]

Perhaps the white folks (153 years after the fact) are beginning to finally wake-up,...to reality.

Let's not hold our breaths, waiting for that phenomenal event to take place, eh?.............

Especially since, knowing them ^ (as we do), they'll probably take the cowardly route (as usual),

by conveniently blaming this current "downturn" of the American Dream events,...squarely upon the shoulders of Blacks,
...Latinos,...and, of course, the Obama Administration,...again...(as usual)...instead of berating the "obvious" culprits...Sigh!

[SKkin]

Perhaps the white folks (153 years after the fact) are beginning to finally wake-up,...to reality.

We're all neo-feudal serfs/slaves now.

blaming this current "downturn" of the America Dream events,...squarely upon
the shoulders of Blacks,..Latinos,...and the Obama administration,...again...(as usual)...Sigh!

Ok I'm white and I'll bite. Personally, I place the blame on the top three tiers of this pyramid(corporate feudalism):



The "elected officials" in the fourth tier are just the tools and useful idiots of those in the top three tiers. Replace Obama's pic there with Trump or Bush if it makes you feel better. It doesn't really matter whose face is in that position...or what race the face.


"Inflation" = bankster controlled scrip notes, aka "money," devaluing at a much greater rate than imagined. Makes it much harder to have an adequate savings for retirement.

"The value of the dollar" You mean the federal reserve note?

What's at the very top?



If I have a lot of FRNs(or their electronic equivalents), I'm rich! [This "money" thing applies to nations across the globe]

edit: [a note in financial terms is a debt instrument] I have many notes(debt), thus I'm wealthy.

Ok, I'm done...carry on.

[TuskegeeBen]

Excellent...^...

[Latindancer]

Pretty sad to see old people go bankrupt. I think that in Australia we have slightly more of a safety net than in the States.

[SKkin]

[bsnub]

^ Why do you post in these threads? You do not participate in the American political process. You are advocating hurting elderly Americans with your tin foil propaganda.

You are a coward.

[TuskegeeBen]

Pretty sad to see old people go bankrupt. I think that in Australia we have slightly more of a safety net than in the States.

Indeed,... you Aussies do have a far better retirement safety net. I've actually met Aussies, who criticize the Aussie retirement system,...until I clue them about....the good ole U.S. of A...

[uncle junior]

Health care.....meds and a major illness could easily wipe out alot retirees

[Stumpy]

Pretty sad to see old people go bankrupt. I think that in Australia we have slightly more of a safety net than in the States.

Actually LD I do not think it's about Safety Nets it's more about the insane cost of Living, radical consumerism wants, social competition. Nobody saves for the later years. It's all live in the now.

I know medical cost devastates many folks. But then again they have fallen into the trap and most are pharmaceutical lemmings.

That's my 10,000 ft fly by view on it all.

[HuangLao]

What a sad state of existence....

[Stumpy]

What a sad state of existence....

Whats really sad are the ones that hold out retiring. They work and work in fear of running out of money later or wait for a few extra bucks applying for Social Security at 65 or 67, then die. Whatever they had for assets now goes to siblings and family members.

[Klondyke]

Why they (the "Older Americans") do not demonstrate like the Russians for lowering the retiring age?
And for having the health care free?

(American Dream...)

[jamescollister]

Indeed,... you Aussies do have a far better retirement safety net. I've actually met Aussies, who criticize the Aussie retirement system,...until I clue them about....the good ole U.S. of A...

I'm Australian, started work at 15 teen, my great pension is nada, nothing or zero.
Can'i get much less, US or OZ, nothing is nothing.

[fishlocker]

My guess is these folks claim bankruptcy to get the equivalent dole you claim is so great in your neck of the woods. You know, free medical, free money, free food and housing ect. You see here, one of the best places to be In my opinion, you will not get those things If you have traceable funds.

[fishlocker]

Pull a Clinger (you know,the man with the dress in the M*A*S*H* unit) and all those things are yours. I know because I've rented a house out to a guy that was on the dole. I had to agree to a certain amount of reasonable rent as there are formulas for average rents in specific areas. This cat paid 75 bucks out of his monthly government allotment and they paid the rest on time every time.

The kicker was that if I agreed to do this for him for five years they (the city) would upgrade the electrical panel to breakers from fuses, put in a new high efficiency gas furnace and water heater as well as blow in insulation in all the vertical wall cavities. It was an older house and needed these upgrades so I reluctantly agreed.

Yea, this place sucks. And yes they take a bit of my paycheck every week to make this sort of thing happen. I love it.

Oh, they did all that because they were helping him lower his utility bills. I don't even think they were paying any of it directly for him though I may be wrong.

[fishlocker]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ife_expectancy

[harrybarracuda]

In the US, Healthcare is the killer, and out of reach for a large portion of the population.

Not only are the Healthcare companies out to make a profit, but so are the insurance companies.

They don't give a fuck if poor or chronically sick people die, they don't make any money out of them.

[fishlocker]

So, I'll move to Russia because they lowered the bar on their retirement age. And the medical care is tops..Yea, right.

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/

[SKkin]

but so are the insurance companies.

The health insurance racket is the bigger evil here...the healthcare system itself is held hostage by that.

they take a bit of my paycheck every week

I can't ignore the fact that my paycheck pays out in FRNs, which I don't perceive as being of much value in the long run. That's where we are held by the proverbial short hairs...

[TuskegeeBen]

My guess is these folks claim bankruptcy to get the equivalent dole you claim is so great in your neck of the woods. You know, free medical, free money, free food and housing ect. You see here, one of the best places to be In my opinion, you will not get those things If you have traceable funds.

That's an excellent point you've made. Claiming bankruptcy, for the reasons you've stated, is an excellent strategy. Thanks for sharing.

[jamescollister]

In the US, Healthcare is the killer, and out of reach for a large portion of the population.

Not only are the Healthcare companies out to make a profit, but so are the insurance companies.

They don't give a fuck if poor or chronically sick people die, they don't make any money out of them.

So let me get this straight, you not only know about Thailand, but the USAs medical system, having lived on welfare ijn the UIK for most of your life.

[harrybarracuda]

So let me get this straight, you not only know about Thailand, but the USAs medical system, having lived on welfare ijn the UIK for most of your life.

Jim would you please remember to take your meds.

I have never lived on welfare in my life, let along lived in the UK for most of it, you fucking demented old twat.

[harrybarracuda]

The health insurance racket is the bigger evil here...the healthcare system itself is held hostage by that.

Well I don't think so.

Everyone and their fucking aunty is out to make a profit out of healthcare, and that's the systemic problem.

That, of course, includes (mostly Republican) politicians.

The United States spends twice as much on healthcare as 10 other high-income nations, driven by the high price of everything from prescription drugs to doctors’ salaries, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds.


Recent attempts to reform American healthcare have assigned blame for the high cost of care to nearly every sector – from drug companies to hospitals to health insurers.


However, a co-author of the new study said those arguments ignore the “800-pound gorilla”: sky-high prices everywhere.


“Most countries get to lower prices one of two ways: they either have a very strong price setter, usually a government agency, or more efficient markets,” said Dr Ashish Jha, co-author of the study by researchers at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health. “The US has figured out how to do the worst of both.”


In the study, America was compared to 10 other countries: the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Japan, Sweden, France, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland.


Researchers used 98 indicators to compare countries across seven areas: general spending, population health, structural capacity, utilization, pharmaceuticals, access and quality and equity. The majority of the data came from international organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. What researchers found was not a single sector with high prices, but that every sector had extraordinary price tags.


For example, the average salary for a general practice physician in the other countries was between $86,607 and $154,126. In the US, the average salary was $218,173.


Per capita spending for prescription drugs in other nations ranged from $466 to $939. In the US, per capita spending was $1,443.


The US also spends more on administrative costs. Other nations spend between 1%-3% to administer their health plans. Administrative costs are 8% of total health spending in the US.


This results in US health costs that, as a percentage of gross domestic product, are nearly double that of other nations. In 2016, the US spent 17.8% of GDP, compared to 9.6%-12.4% in other countries.


At the same time, America often had the worst population health outcomes, and worst overall health coverage.


The US ranked last in life expectancy; had the worst maternal mortality rates (nearly triple that of the United Kingdom); more infant deaths than any other country, and a high rate of low birth weight babies.


Other countries had universal, or near universal, health insurance rates. The US ranked last. Just 90% of Americans have health insurance, leaving about 27 million people without access to healthcare.


Jha said whether the US moves toward more , as advocated by Republicans, or to , as advocated by liberal Democrats, price tags on all American health services need to be addressed.


“I’m happy to move in either direction that will allow for lower prices, but right now we’re not even having that debate,” said Jha. “We’re fighting over all sorts of other things.”


The study’s possible weaknesses include comparability of data, with different countries having “modest” differences in data collection.


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...rices-salaries