What Does it Mean to be Old?
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It is different for each of us because of:
- genetic make-up
- health history
- environment
- personal nutritional and health habits
- financial resources
- activity level
- attitude
Notes:
- As a whole, older adults in the 21st Century are better off financially
than ever before. Between 1965 and 1998, poverty among the aged dropped from
33% to 10%. Today 91% of the elderly receive Social Security compared to 69%
in 1962. This improved status was due to many factors, particularly increases
and cost of living adjustments to Social Security, and Medicare, and Medicaid.
Pockets of poverty continue to exist, especially among minority women; those
women who have never married or been divorced are the worst off.