The National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) has, for over 35 years, been actively engaged in legal advocacy to promote the independence and well-being of low-income elderly individuals and people with disabilities.  NSCLC focuses on the two most fundamental issues facing the aging and disability communities: assuring adequate income to meet basic needs and having access to quality health care.

            We strongly support the proposal by Rep. McDermott to establish a Modern Poverty Measure and the companion provision calling for study of the concept of a decent living standard threshold.  The traditional Federal Poverty Level has become increasingly inadequate to meet the demands of a society and an economy which are significantly different from the mid-twentieth century for which it was designed.  Regional disparities have become more pronounced and people spend their money in significantly different ways than they did a half century ago.  In addition to establishing different regional standards, consideration should also be given to establishing a separate standard for measuring poverty among the elderly.  This is important in light of the constantly growing out-of-pocket medical costs for older Americans.  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s representative before the Subcommittee, Mark Levitan, in his testimony provided significant evidence of how today’s Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is especially inadequate in measuring poverty among those over age 65.  The measure developed by the City reveals a poverty rate among the elderly twice the rate shown by the official FPL.  Also, while the FPL shows a poverty rate among the elderly both in New York City and nationwide which is slightly lower than the average for all age groups, the New York City measure demonstrates a poverty rate among the elderly (32%) which is significantly higher than for any other age group.  Given the inadequate savings rates of those approaching retirement age, this is a problem which can only be expected to grow in the near future.  It is thus important that we have a reliable measure of poverty among the elderly if we are to have well designed programs to address the need.

            Although most of the emphasis seems to be placed on the measurement of poverty, we believe that the proposal to study the development of a decent living standard threshold is at least as important.  While it is important to eliminate poverty, we cannot declare victory by raising people to the verge of poverty.  We need an agreed upon standard for income adequacy, i.e., a level of income sufficient to provide a modest standard of economic security such that people need not fear being thrown into poverty by the next unanticipated expense.  For that reason we strongly support the proposed study called for in Sect. 1150B of the proposed Act.

            We also want to call your attention to the Elder Economic Security Initiative, which has now been launched in five states, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.  This effort is being coordinated nationally by Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) and has been led here in California by the Insight Center for Community Economic Development in consultation with a wide array of senior advocacy groups including NSCLC.  It provides, on the basis of research by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, a county by county breakdown of what is required for older people in different living situations to meet their basic needs.  This is useful, not only as a measure of what we as a society should be striving for, but also as a potential planning tool for those who have not yet reached retirement age.  It provides a reality check of what they will need after they retire and can provide an incentive to start saving more money for their retirement. We suggest that any study of a decent living standard make use of the work that has been done here in California and in the other states participating in the Elder Economic Security Initiative.