The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.
Photo: Jon Tyson/Unsplash
by Judith Ruiz-Branch Illinois News Connection
CHICAGO - Black residents in Illinois are almost eight times more likely to be homeless than white people, with lack of livable wages and affordable housing among the primary drivers.
Researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago said homelessness is an issue of equity with Blacks disproportionately represented across the state. Rent burdens and economic hardship are both driving factors. In 2022, about 63% of Black renters spent more than 30% of their paycheck on housing.
One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty.
Chama St. Louis, director of organizing and network expansion at the National Black Worker Center, experienced homelessness in the winter of 2011. Even though she was working full-time, she said she could not afford to pay for housing and basic needs for her and her family.
"I felt like I was doing everything right," St. Louis recounted. "You can do everything right and still end up in a place where you don't have a home, because the system is failing us."
One in four Black residents is living in poverty in Illinois and one in seven is in deep poverty. St. Louis argued the Trump administration's dismantling of DEI efforts will only further compound matters.
The state has increased investment in programs such as Home Illinois to address the significant rise in homelessness. St. Louis pointed out even though she registered her and her family as homeless, many programs required her to travel based on the availability at shelters on any given day.
"When we had no gas, then we were sleeping in Walmart parking lots," St. Louis explained. "And on days it was really cold, I would take the kids inside of Walmart and make pallets for them at the bottom of a cart and push them around Walmart for seven hours until the sun came up."
St. Louis added she is now dedicated to helping others who experience homelessness. Along with advocating for improved conditions and wages for Black workers, she stressed she tries to humanize the crisis.
"Outside of the real work that we have to do around policy and making sure that people from a systemic standpoint are being treated fairly, we still have to make sure that we are human beings who care about one another and want to see each other do well," St. Louis emphasized.
The state has earmarked $290 million for homeless services this year but advocates are asking for an additional $100 million for emergency housing, assistance and prevention programs.
Let’s say you’re lucky enough to get housing at that wage. Do you then spend all your money on rent and skip nutritious meals for your family?
byJocelyn Smith OtherWords
Photo: Donna Spearman/Unsplash
I know how it feels to be hungry and homeless.
That’s why after work, I drive around town and pick up leftover food from restaurants, schools, grocery stores, and special events. My fellow volunteers and I set up in a big parking lot in our downtown to make this food available to anyone who shows up — no questions asked.
And it’s why other volunteers and I also work to find empty housing units that have fallen into disrepair because the landlords can’t afford the upkeep. We raise money and give them grants so they can bring the units up to code for use as low-income housing rentals.
I’m proud to do this work. But it’s no substitute for fair, living wages and a reliable public safety net. The minimum wage where I live is $12 — well below the $21 per hour the National Low Income Housing Coalition has calculated is necessary to afford a market rate two-bedroom rental locally.
Let’s say you’re lucky enough to get housing at that wage. Do you then spend all your money on rent and skip nutritious meals for your family? Or do you skip health care and medication? If you have a paycheck and a roof over your head, you might not qualify for food assistance, even if you don’t make enough to make ends meet.
Photo: Joel Muniz/Unsplash
Foodbanks play a crucial role in addressing hunger and ensuring that vulnerable populations have access to nutritious food when they are unable to afford or access enough food on their own.
I work, volunteer, take care of my child, and I’m fortunate enough to have housing. But I still need to rely on SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as “food stamps” — for my family.
My daughter has epilepsy, and thankfully I was able to get her onto Social Security Disability Insurance. However, she needs not only costly medication but also frequent neurological supervision and a device that helps to stop her seizures. There’s no neurologist in our town who can treat her, so we have to travel and lodge hours away for it.
when we need help, the bar for our income shouldn’t be so low that we must be nearly destitute, without any savings or emergency cushion, to qualify.
The expense is enormous, and that’s not even getting into expensive medications for my own heart problems and autoimmune disorders. Thankfully, we qualify for Medicaid. Otherwise, treatment would be out of reach.
But what does it say about our policy priorities when we need to say, “I’m disabled, taking care of my disabled daughter, I work, and I help feed my community, and yet I need assistance affording meals for my family?” These are the realities that a good society plans for so we can all thrive, no matter what obstacles life throws our way.
The programs our tax dollars pay for so families like mine can get help when we need it must be more robust. Programs like SSDI shouldn’t be so inaccessible. Food, housing, and health care shouldn’t be so expensive — and wages shouldn’t be so low that these basic necessities are unaffordable.
And when we need help, the bar for our income shouldn’t be so low that we must be nearly destitute, without any savings or emergency cushion, to qualify.
Is Congress working on any of this? Unfortunately, no. Instead, they’re doing the opposite right now.
In fact, the GOP budget proposal would slash $880 billion from Medicaid and $230 billion from food assistance. They’re also cutting government agencies that assist with affordable housing, transportation, safety, veterans, and children with disabilities.
Why? Because they need to find at least $4.5 trillion to give even more tax cuts to the wealthiest and largest corporations. They are reaching into my very shallow pockets, into my daughter’s life-saving medical care, and into the mouths of those who come to my food table in that parking lot.
They’re stealing from us to give to the rich, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty that keeps people homeless and hungry.
I don’t think that’s fair. Do you? We all deserve better.
Jocelyn Smith lives in Roswell, New Mexico. She works at a local talk radio station, runs a local Food not Bombs chapter, and volunteers at Rehab to Rental, helping to increase affordable housing options. This op-ed was produced in partnership with the Institute for Policy Studies and the Working Class Storyteller and distributed by OtherWords.org.
It’s clear that this nation’s safety net has to be stronger so that people like me don’t fall through the cracks.
byMarisa Pesce
OtherWords
Tens of millions of Americans rely on the public assistance programs — like Medicaid, SNAP, housing aid, and more — that Republican leaders are now threatening to gut.
I’m one of them.
My dream is to regain the financial independence I once enjoyed before life and systemic obstacles got in the way. I come from a family with a history of mental illness and domestic abuse, and I’ve suffered through mental health challenges myself.
I’ve always worked hard. After high school, I earned a college degree and found the calling of being a teacher. I earned and paid for my Master’s degree while teaching full time as a high school math teacher. I still struggled with challenges, but life was good. The system had worked. I had a home and was financially independent.
I’ve had to rely on someone who participated in the domestic violence against me to help with rent.
Then, I was the victim of a major, life changing domestic violence event, and my life started to unwind. I had to relocate to another state where I didn’t have a place to call home, my benefits were less, and my mental illness was exacerbated by the isolation and trauma.
Despite the challenges I faced, I was able to find some needed assistance for food and mental health care as I got on my feet.
Also known as “food stamps,” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was a godsend for helping me put food on the table. Throughout my life both Medicaid and Medicare have helped with mental health treatment, and the Supplemental Security Disability Income (SSDI) program helped keep me out of poverty.
These are precisely the circumstances for which temporary assistance for basic needs like food, housing, and health care exists. But affordable housing was unavailable in my new home state, and SNAP benefits were much lower — even as my food needs stayed the same.
So my debts increased, and I’ve had to rely on someone who participated in the domestic violence against me to help with rent. I have a little income from SSDI, and I volunteer to stay engaged in my calling to teach and help others while I fight to recover from losing my home and my ability to keep up financially.
It’s clear that this nation’s safety net has to be stronger so that people like me don’t fall through the cracks. But House Republicans are currently trying to cut food assistance and other benefits, not strengthen them.
I just want to eat, get better, and afford safe housing so I can get back on my feet, back to financial independence, and back to doing all I can to help my community.
I need more help putting food on the table. But they’re proposing cuts to drastically reduce federal funding for SNAP, expand already harsh working requirements, and change how our need for healthy food is calculated, which is likely to slash benefits. And they’re doing it all to finance $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest.
I just want to eat, get better, and afford safe housing so I can get back on my feet, back to financial independence, and back to doing all I can to help my community. Yet I and millions like me are nothing but pawns in a political game that aims to hurt us and help those who already have wealth.
When I was teaching, I taught my students about fairness and equality — about what it means to live in a society where we look out for each other, where no one is left to be ill, unhoused, and hungry. I think some politicians need to go back to school, because they seem to have forgotten lessons like these.
So it’s our job to school them. We must let them know that basic human needs are not fair game for getting money for tax cuts for billionaires. Instead, our priorities should be healthy and safe communities for all.
About the author:
Marisa Pesce is a teacher, human rights consultant, anti-poverty advocate, and volunteer with RESULTS from Providence, Rhode Island. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.
BPT - Families in poverty often spend over 80% of their income on food, housing, childcare and healthcare, leaving little room for essentials like winter clothing. Unfortunately, many children miss school or cannot fully participate because they do not have warm coats or shoes. This lack of warm clothing has a ripple effect and is one of the reasons 32% of children in the poorest school districts are chronically absent.
A new partnership between the national nonprofit Operation Warm and Subaru is helping to provide these essentials, offering brand-new, high-quality coats, shoes and socks for children in need.
The Subaru Loves to Help initiative will help over 630 Subaru retailers deliver winter clothing to underserved communities across the country.
Subaru retailers will also host on-site gifting events or coordinate drop-off deliveries based on the community's needs. Events will provide children the opportunity to select brand-new coats, shoes and socks.
CHICAGO - People will gather over the holidays with family and friends to count their blessings.
While the holiday feast is plentiful for many, some people fear a lack of food access leaves them with little to celebrate.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week that food providers in predominantly rural, remote and underserved communities in Illinois and nationwide will receive an additional $500 million to purchase fruits, vegetables, and nuts to stock their pantries.
USDA Undersecretary Jennifer Moffitt said the state will receive millions.
"For Illinois," said Moffitt, "$28 million is going to the state of Illinois and will be distributed by the Illinois Department of Agriculture."
The $500 million is in addition to $1.5 billion in funding since 2022 for emergency food providers nationwide.
Moffitt said the funding is about connecting farmers and food with the Emergency Food Network to bring that product to local communities.
This will enable farmers to sell their products at a good price to food banks and pantries, grocery stores and restaurants.
Food Bank Director of Media Relations Katie Herity said the organization is serving a record number of neighbors, so the USDA grant will help significantly.
"Last year, we served 90 million meals throughout our service area, which is 13 counties in rural and suburban northern Illinois," said Herity. "Donations have slowed down, and so we continue to reach out to help raise awareness and welcome all food donations."
Herity claimed that after the pandemic, the number of donations slowed but the number of neighbors reaching out for help increased - serving double the pre-pandemic level.
She said volunteers are crucial to the food bank's daily operations in helping food distribution.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar and lasts either 29 or 30 days, depending on when the new crescent moon is, or should be, visible.
Ramadan is a period of fasting and spiritual growth and is one of the five “pillars of Islam” – the others being the declaration of faith, daily prayer, alms-giving and the pilgrimage to Mecca. Able-bodied Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn to sunset each day of the month. Many practicing Muslims also perform additional prayers, especially at night, and attempt to recite the entire Quran. The prevailing belief among Muslims is that it was in the final 10 nights of Ramadan that the Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.
3. What is the connection between soul and body that the observance of Ramadan seeks to explain?
The Quran states that fasting was prescribed for believers so that they may be conscious of God. By abstaining from things that people tend to take for granted (such as water), it is believed, one may be moved to reflect on the purpose of life and grow closer to the creator and sustainer of all existence. As such, engaging in wrongdoing effectively undermines the fast. Many Muslims also maintain that fasting allows them to get a feeling of poverty and this may foster feelings of empathy.
4. Can Muslims skip fasting under certain conditions? If so, do they make up missed days?
All those who are physically limited (for example, because of an illness or old age) are exempt from the obligation to fast; the same is true for anyone who is traveling. Those who are able to do so are expected to make up the missed days at a later time. One could potentially make up all of the missed days in the month immediately following Ramadan, the month of Shawwal. Those unable to fast at all, if they are financially able, are expected to provide meals to the needy as an alternative course of action.
5. What is the significance of 29 or 30 days of fasting?
By fasting over an extended period of time, practicing Muslims aim to foster certain attitudes and values that they would be able to cultivate over the course of an entire year. Ramadan is often likened to a spiritual training camp.
Besides experiencing feelings of hunger and thirst, believers often have to deal with fatigue because of late-night prayers and pre-dawn meals. This is especially true during the final 10 nights of the month. In addition to being the period in which the Quran was believed to have been first revealed, this is a time when divine rewards are believed to be multiplied. Many Muslims will offer additional prayers during this period.
6. Do Muslims celebrate the completion of Ramadan?
The end of Ramadan marks the beginning of one of two major Islamic holidays Eid al-Fitr, the “festival of the breaking of the fast.” On this day, many Muslims attend a religious service, visit relatives and friends and exchange gifts.
This is an updated version of an article originally published on May 22, 2017.
The financial and emotional toll of providing and paying for long-term care is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of Americans.
by Reed Abelson, The New York Times Jordan Rau, KFF Health New
Kaiser Health News - Margaret Newcomb, 69, a retired French teacher, is desperately trying to protect her retirement savings by caring for her 82-year-old husband, who has severe dementia, at home in Seattle. She used to fear his disease-induced paranoia, but now he’s so frail and confused that he wanders away with no idea of how to find his way home. He gets lost so often that she attaches a tag to his shoelace with her phone number.
The financial and emotional toll of providing and paying for long-term care is wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of Americans. Read about how a few families are navigating the challenges, in their own words. (Read More)
Feylyn Lewis, 35, sacrificed a promising career as a research director in England to return home to Nashville after her mother had a debilitating stroke. They ran up $15,000 in medical and credit card debt while she took on the role of caretaker.
Sheila Littleton, 30, brought her grandfather with dementia to her family home in Houston, then spent months fruitlessly trying to place him in a nursing home with Medicaid coverage. She eventually abandoned him at a psychiatric hospital to force the system to act.
“That was terrible,” she said. “I had to do it.”
Millions of families are facing such daunting life choices — and potential financial ruin — as the escalating costs of in-home care, assisted living facilities, and nursing homes devour the savings and incomes of older Americans and their relatives.
“People are exposed to the possibility of depleting almost all their wealth,” said Richard Johnson, director of the program on retirement policy at the Urban Institute.
The prospect of dying broke looms as an imminent threat for the boomer generation, which vastly expanded the middle class and looked hopefully toward a comfortable retirement on the backbone of 401(k)s and pensions. Roughly 10,000 of them will turn 65 every day until 2030, expecting to live into their 80s and 90s as the price tag for long-term care explodes, outpacing inflation and reaching a half-trillion dollars a year, according to federal researchers.
By 2050, there will be more than 86 million Americans over the age of 65. The U.S. does not dedicate enough funds for long-term care of the aging population. For the most, the financial burden is left on the shoulders of the senior and their financial resources or that of the family.
Photo: Spolyakov/PEXELS
The challenges will only grow. By 2050, the population of Americans 65 and older is projected to increase by more than 50%, to 86 million, according to census estimates. The number of people 85 or older will nearly triple to 19 million.
The United States has no coherent system of long-term care, mostly a patchwork. The private market, where a minuscule portion of families buy long-term care insurance, has shriveled, reduced over years of giant rate hikes by insurers that had underestimated how much care people would actually use. Labor shortages have left families searching for workers willing to care for their elders in the home. And the cost of a spot in an assisted living facility has soared to an unaffordable level for most middle-class Americans. They have to run out of money to qualify for nursing home care paid for by the government.
For an examination of the crisis in long-term care, The New York Times and KFF Health News interviewed families across the nation as they struggled to obtain care; examined companies that provide it; and analyzed data from the federally funded Health and Retirement Study, the most authoritative national survey of older people about their long-term care needs and financial resources.
About 8 million people 65 and older reported that they had dementia or difficulty with basic daily tasks like bathing and feeding themselves — and nearly 3 million of them had no assistance at all, according to an analysis of the survey data. Most people relied on spouses, children, grandchildren, or friends.
The United States devotes a smaller share of its gross domestic product to long-term care than do most other wealthy countries, including Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States lags its international peers in another way: It dedicates far less of its overall health spending toward long-term care.
“We just don’t value elders the way that other countries and other cultures do,” said Rachel Werner, executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. “We don’t have a financing and insurance system for long-term care,” she said. “There isn’t the political will to spend that much money.”
Most countries spend more than the United States on care, but middle-class and affluent people still bear a substantial portion of the costs. (Read More)
Despite medical advances that have added years to the average life span and allowed people to survive decades more after getting cancer or suffering from heart disease or strokes, federal long-term care for older people has not fundamentally changed in the decades since President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965. From 1960 to 2021, the number of Americans age 85 and older increased at more than six times the rate of the general population, according to census records.
Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans 65 and older, covers the costs of medical care, but generally pays for a home aide or a stay in a nursing home only for a limited time during a recovery from a surgery or a fall or for short-term rehabilitation.
Medicaid, the federal-state program, covers long-term care, usually in a nursing home, but only for the poor. Middle-class people must exhaust their assets to qualify, forcing them to sell much of their property and to empty their bank accounts. If they go into a nursing home, they are permitted to keep a pittance of their retirement income: $50 or less a month in a majority of states. And spouses can hold onto only a modest amount of income and assets, often leaving their children and grandchildren to shoulder some of the financial burden.
At any given time, skilled nursing homes house roughly 630,000 older residents whose average age is about 77.
“You basically want people to destitute themselves and then you take everything else that they have,” said Gay Glenn, whose mother lived in a nursing home in Kansas until she died in October at age 96.
Her mother, Betty Mae Glenn, had to spend down her savings, paying the home more than $10,000 a month, until she qualified for Medicaid. Glenn, 61, relocated from Chicago to Topeka more than four years ago, moving into one of her mother’s two rental properties and overseeing her care and finances.
Under the state Medicaid program’s byzantine rules, she had to pay rent to her mother, and that income went toward her mother’s care. Glenn sold the family’s house just before her mother’s death in October. Her lawyer told her the estate had to pay Medicaid back about $20,000 from the proceeds.
A play she wrote about her relationship with her mother, titled “If You See Panic in My Eyes,” was read this year at a theater festival.
At any given time, skilled nursing homes house roughly 630,000 older residents whose average age is about 77, according to recent estimates. A long-term resident’s care can easily cost more than $100,000 a year without Medicaid coverage at these institutions, which are supposed to provide round-the-clock nursing coverage.
Nine in 10 people said it would be impossible or very difficult to pay that much, according to a KFF public opinion poll conducted during the pandemic.
Efforts to create a national long-term care system have repeatedly collapsed. Democrats have argued that the federal government needs to take a much stronger hand in subsidizing care. The Biden administration sought to improve wages and working conditions for paid caregivers. But a $150 billion proposal in the Build Back Better Act for in-home and community-based services under Medicaid was dropped to lower the price tag of the final legislation.
“This is an issue that’s coming to the front door of members of Congress,” said Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat and chair of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. “No matter where you’re representing — if you’re representing a blue state or red state — families are not going to settle for just having one option,” he said, referring to nursing homes funded under Medicaid. “The federal government has got to do its part, which it hasn’t.”
But leading Republicans in Congress say the federal government cannot be expected to step in more than it already does. Americans need to save for when they will inevitably need care, said Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the aging committee.
“So often people just think it’s just going to work out,” he said. “Too many people get to the point where they’re 65 and then say, ‘I don’t have that much there.’”
Private Companies’ Prices Have Skyrocketed
The boomer generation is jogging and cycling into retirement, equipped with hip and knee replacements that have slowed their aging. And they are loath to enter the institutional setting of a nursing home.
But they face major expenses for the in-between years: falling along a spectrum between good health and needing round-the-clock care in a nursing home.
That has led them to assisted living centers run by for-profit companies and private equity funds enjoying robust profits in this growing market. Some 850,000 people age 65 or older now live in these facilities that are largely ineligible for federal funds and run the gamut, with some providing only basics like help getting dressed and taking medication and others offering luxury amenities like day trips, gourmet meals, yoga, and spas.
The bills can be staggering.
As Americans live longer, the number who develop dementia, a condition of aging, has soared, as have their needs.
Half of the nation’s assisted living facilities cost at least $54,000 a year, according to Genworth, a long-term care insurer. That rises substantially in many metropolitan areas with lofty real estate prices. Specialized settings, like locked memory care units for those with dementia, can cost twice as much.
Home care is costly, too. Agencies charge about $27 an hour for a home health aide, according to Genworth. Hiring someone who spends six or seven hours a day cleaning and helping an older person get out of bed or take medications can add up to $60,000 a year.
As Americans live longer, the number who develop dementia, a condition of aging, has soared, as have their needs. Five million to 7 million Americans age 65 and up have dementia, and their ranks are projected to grow to nearly 12 million by 2040. The condition robs people of their memories, mars the ability to speak and understand, and can alter their personalities.
In Seattle, Margaret and Tim Newcomb sleep on separate floors of their two-story cottage, with Margaret ever mindful that her husband, who has dementia, can hallucinate and become aggressive if medication fails to tame his symptoms.
“The anger has diminished from the early days,” she said last year.
But earlier on, she had resorted to calling the police when he acted erratically.
“He was hating me and angry, and I didn’t feel safe,” she said.
She considered memory care units, but the least expensive option cost around $8,000 a month and some could reach nearly twice that amount. The couple’s monthly income, with his pension from Seattle City Light, the utility company, and their combined Social Security, is $6,000.
Placing her husband in such a place would have gutted the $500,000 they had saved before she retired from 35 years teaching art and French at a parochial school.
“I’ll let go of everything if I have to, but it’s a very unfair system,” she said. “If you didn’t see ahead or didn’t have the right type of job that provides for you, it’s tough luck.”
In the last year, medication has quelled Tim’s anger, but his health has declined so much that he no longer poses a physical threat. Margaret said she’s reconciled to caring for him as long as she can.
“When I see him sitting out on the porch and appreciating the sun coming on his face, it’s really sweet,” she said.
The financial threat posed by dementia also weighs heavily on adult children who have become guardians of aged parents and have watched their slow, expensive declines.
Claudia Morrell, 64, of Parkville, Maryland, estimated her mother, Regine Hayes, spent more than $1 million during the eight years she needed residential care for dementia. That was possible only because her mother had two pensions, one from her husband’s military service and another from his job at an insurance company, plus savings and Social Security.
Morrell paid legal fees required as her mother’s guardian, as well as $6,000 on a special bed so her mother wouldn’t fall out and on private aides after she suffered repeated small strokes. Her mother died last December at age 87.
“I will never have those kinds of resources,” Morrell, an education consultant, said. “My children will never have those kinds of resources. We didn’t inherit enough or aren’t going to earn enough to have the quality of care she got. You certainly can’t live that way on Social Security.”
Women Bear the Burden of Care
For seven years, Annie Reid abandoned her life in Colorado to sleep in her childhood bedroom in Maryland, living out of her suitcase and caring for her mother, Frances Sampogna, who had dementia. “No one else in my family was able to do this,” she said.
“It just dawned on me, I have to actually unpack and live here,” Reid, 61, remembered thinking. “And how long? There’s no timeline on it.”
After Sampogna died at the end of September 2022, her daughter returned to Colorado and started a furniture redesign business, a craft she taught herself in her mother’s basement. Reid recently had her knee replaced, something she could not do in Maryland because her insurance didn’t cover doctors there.
“It’s amazing how much time went by,” she said. “I’m so grateful to be back in my life again.”
Studies are now calculating the toll of caregiving on children, especially women. The median lost wages for women providing intensive care for their mothers is $24,500 over two years, according to a study led by Norma Coe, an associate professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Lewis moved back from England to Nashville to care for her mother, a former nurse who had a stroke that put her in a wheelchair.
“I was thrust back into a caregiving role full time,” she said. She gave up a post as a research director for a nonprofit organization. She is also tending to her 87-year-old grandfather, ill with prostate cancer and kidney disease.
Making up for lost income seems daunting while she continues to support her mother.
But she is regaining hope: She was promoted to assistant dean for student affairs at Vanderbilt School of Nursing and was recently married. She and her husband plan to stay in the same apartment with her mother until they can save enough to move into a larger place.
Government Solutions Are Elusive
Over the years, lawmakers in Congress and government officials have sought to ease the financial burdens on individuals, but little has been achieved.
The CLASS Act, part of the Obamacare legislation of 2010, was supposed to give people the option of paying into a long-term insurance program. It was repealed two years later amid compelling evidence that it would never be economically viable.
Two years ago, another proposal, called the WISH Act, outlined a long-term care trust fund, but it never gained traction.
On the home care front, the scarcity of workers has led to a flurry of attempts to improve wages and working conditions for paid caregivers. A provision in the Build Back Better Act to provide more funding for home care under Medicaid was not included in the final Inflation Reduction Act, a less costly version of the original bill that Democrats sought to pass last year.
The labor shortages are largely attributed to low wages for difficult work. In the Medicaid program, demand has clearly outstripped supply, according to a recent analysis. While the number of home aides in the Medicaid program has increased to 1.4 million in 2019 from 840,000 in 2008, the number of aides per 100 people who qualify for home or community care has declined nearly 12%.
In April, President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for changes to government programs that would improve conditions for workers and encourage initiatives that would relieve some of the burdens on families providing care.
Turning to Medicaid, a Shredded Safety Net
The only true safety net for many Americans is Medicaid, which represents, by far, the largest single source of funding for long-term care.
More than 4 in 5 middle-class people 65 or older who need long-term care for five years or more will eventually enroll, according to an analysis for the federal government by the Urban Institute. Almost half of upper-middle-class couples with lifetime earnings of more than $4.75 million will also end up on Medicaid.
But gaps in Medicaid coverage leave many people without care. Under federal law, the program is obliged to offer nursing home care in every state. In-home care, which is not guaranteed, is provided under state waivers, and the number of participants is limited. Many states have long waiting lists, and it can be extremely difficult to find aides willing to work at the low-paying Medicaid rate.
Qualifying for a slot in a nursing home paid by Medicaid can be formidable, with many families spending thousands of dollars on lawyers and consultants to navigate state rules. Homes may be sold or couples may contemplate divorce to become eligible.
And recipients and their spouses may still have to contribute significant sums. After Stan Markowitz, a former history professor in Baltimore with Parkinson’s disease, and his wife, Dottye Burt, 78, exhausted their savings on his two-year stay in an assisted living facility, he qualified for Medicaid and moved into a nursing home.
He was required to contribute $2,700 a month, which ate up 45% of the couple’s retirement income. Burt, who was a racial justice consultant for nonprofits, rented a modest apartment near the home, all she could afford on what was left of their income.
Markowitz died in September at age 86, easing the financial pressure on her. “I won’t be having to pay the nursing home,” she said.
Even finding a place willing to take someone can be a struggle. Harold Murray, Sheila Littleton’s grandfather, could no longer live safely in rural North Carolina because his worsening dementia led him to wander. She brought him to Houston in November 2020, then spent months trying to enroll him in the state’s Medicaid program so he could be in a locked unit at a nursing home.
She felt she was getting the runaround. Nursing home after nursing home told her there were no beds, or quibbled over when and how he would be eligible for a bed under Medicaid. In desperation, she left him at a psychiatric hospital so it would find him a spot.
“I had to refuse to take him back home,” she said. “They had no choice but to place him.”
He was finally approved for coverage in early 2022, at age 83.
A few months later, he died.
Reed Abelson is a health care reporter for The New York Times. The New York Times' Kirsten Noyes and graphics editor Albert Sun, KFF Health News data editor Holly K. Hacker, and JoNel Aleccia, formerly of KFF Health News, contributed to this report originally published .
US Health and Retirement Study Analysis
The New York Times-KFF Health News data analysis was based on the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of about 20,000 people age 50 and older. The analysis defined people age 65 and above as likely to need long-term care if they were assessed to have dementia, or if they reported having difficulty with two or more of six specified activities of daily living: bathing, dressing, eating, getting in and out of bed, walking across a room, and using the toilet. The Langa-Weir classification of cognitive function, a related data set, was used to identify respondents with dementia. The analysis’s definition of needing long-term care assistance is conservative and in line with the criteria most long-term care insurers use in determining whether they will pay for services.
People were described as recipients of long-term care help if they reported receiving assistance in the month before the interview for the study or if they lived in a nursing home. The analysis was developed in consultation with Norma Coe, an associate professor of medical ethics and health policy at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The financial toll on middle-class and upper-income people needing long-term care was examined by reviewing data that the HRS collected from 2000 to 2021 on wealthy Americans, those whose net worth at age 65 was in the 50th to 95th percentile, totaling anywhere from $171,365 to $1,827,765 in inflation-adjusted 2020 dollars. This group excludes the super-wealthy. Each individual’s wealth at age 65 was compared with their wealth just before they died to calculate the percentage of affluent people who exhausted their financial resources and the likelihood that would occur among different groups.
To calculate how many people were likely to need long-term care, how many people needing long-term care services were receiving them, and who was providing care to people receiving help, we looked at people age 65 and older of all wealth levels in the 2020-21 survey, the most recent.
The U.S. Health and Retirement Study is conducted by the University of Michigan and funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.
Kent Splaingard, DMD, recalls decades ago when he learned his mother had stage three gum disease. Her dental providers told her that dentures were likely in a few years.
But after thirty years of treating his mother, Dr. Splaingard says she lost just one tooth.
“I always point it out here,” Dr. Splaingard says, gesturing to where the tooth was. “I remember taking that tooth out thinking, ‘What a failure.’ But I really look back at it and say, ‘What a success.’ Mom had her teeth all her life.”
The mouth is like a picture window into the body’s health.
It’s a prime example of how therapeutic dental treatment can reverse the effects of gum disease. And it’s something he sees weekly with patients at OSF HealthCare in Alton, Illinois. Dr. Splaingard is a retired private practice dentist and an instructor at Lewis and Clark Community College in nearby Godfrey. He and his students regularly see OSF patients who need extra dental attention.
It’s important work, Dr. Splaingard says, because our body functions as a whole. Advanced gum disease will likely make other medical conditions worse.
“The mouth is like a picture window into the body’s health,” he says.
Gum disease basics
Dr. Splaingard says gum disease is a bacterial infection caused by poor oral hygiene. The bacteria embed into the gum tissue, and that typically results in a low-grade chronic infection (in other words, a problem over a longer period). Left untreated, your gums will constantly be red (not the normal pink), swollen and sore. Bleeding is possible, too.
Photo:6493990/Pixabay
“You see a lot of debris on the teeth. You may see a film of bacteria. You also see a white-ish coating on the soft tissue,” Dr. Splaingard adds.
“You also see the social and economic problems with the people who can’t chew properly. The poor nutrition they may be getting,” he adds.
Treatment for gum disease is a combination of thorough cleaning by a dental professional, treatments that stop bacteria from reproducing and antibiotic medication. In severe cases, a dental specialist may perform surgery. That could involve pulling some or all of a person’s teeth.
Prevention
Dr. Splaingard says gum disease can be passed down genetically, but general prevention goes back to what dentists have told you since you were a kid.
Brush and floss regularly. The American Dental Association recommends brushing twice per day and flossing once per day. If you have questions about frequency, talk to your dentist.
See a dentist regularly. Twice per year is a good starting point, but some people who need extra attention could go four times per year.
In between those appointments, watch your teeth and gums and let your dentist know if something doesn’t seem right.
“It’s education, motivation and self-treatment,” Dr. Splaingard says.
Related articles:
How to spot Medicare scams and protect yourself
More than 65 million people in the United States were enrolled in Medicare as of February 2023, with more people becoming eligible and enrolling each year. Anyone on Medicare is at risk of Medicare-related fraud, and the Medicare program continues to warn people to watch out for ...
Fatal heart attack risks may be higher during days with extreme heat & air pollution
The combination of soaring heat and smothering fine particulate pollution may double the risk of heart attack death, according to a new study of more than 202,000 heart attack deaths in China. The study published today ...
by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator
When I was a child at Tomahawk Elementary School in Martin County, Kentucky there were many kids who got little to nothing for Christmas. I had classmates who I would never ask if they got anything for Christmas because I already knew the answer. Some of these kids were just glad to be in school. At school they could receive a free lunch and have access to a bathroom which they didn’t have at home. This also meant they could wash their faces and their hands which was difficult at home especially in the winter months. While most of us didn’t have much, what we did have seemed like a lot to those who had nothing.
This is where you need to stop and think. You stress about all you may not have but what do you have in comparison to those who have nothing? Do you have a place to sleep? Do you have a comfortable bed? Is your house or apartment warm and comfortable? Do you know you will have food to eat on Christmas day? Do you have a television to watch? Do you have a telephone? Do you have a few dollars in your pocket?
I’m very aware there are millions of Americans who are below the financial income poverty level. They have it tough. Our cities are filled with growing numbers of homeless populations. People are sleeping under bridges, overpasses and on riverbanks. Too many of these have met with unfortunate circumstances in life due to bad choices, addictions, unemployment, mental illness, and family issues. The list is never-ending. This doesn’t make their lives any easier. Just because there is a reason for the problems doesn’t make their burdens lighter or unnoticeable. Their reality is still harsh and painful.
Millions more immigrants are coming to America. Where will they sleep? Where will they work? Many of them will work for $8 an hour and work hard but many of them will be homeless or stranded in homeless shelters on government dependence for a long time. Would any of us want to trade places with them? I don’t think so.
Whatever darkness you are facing this Christmas is your reality. Seeing the hurts of others doesn’t make your troubles go away. However, if you can be thankful for the life you have, then maybe Christmas will take on a whole new light.
Look to the most special gift of all this Christmas – the baby in the manger. Shepherds raced to see the baby just as the angels said they would. Wise men came from the east and worshipped him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Mary and Joseph did the best they could as peasant parents of a new baby boy.
Keep the scripture of Isaiah 9:6 handy this Christmas. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Price of Peace.
May His peace comfort your heart and be your light and strength through this seasonand every day to come.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of Grandpa's Store, American Issues, and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.
This article is the sole opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Sentinel. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.
Supply-chain issues, inflation and job loss during the pandemic have put many families' food security at risk.
In Illinois, hunger remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. Recent census surveys show 7% of households in the state are considered food insecure, and it jumps to 12% for households with children.
Jim Conwell, senior director of marketing and communications for the Greater Chicago Food Depository, said for families already concerned about making ends meet, increased grocery prices are hitting household budgets hard.
"Add on top of that, as we enter the winter months, increased costs for utilities and home heating," Conwell outlined. "There's going to be more families who are struggling to make it through a month and get all the foods they need."
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, food prices overall have increased 6.8% since November 2020. Prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs have risen more than 12%, and they're up 4% for fresh produce.
And with the ongoing challenge of rising prices, Conwell pointed out it can be even more difficult for families to get back on track, despite many people going back to work and schools reopening.
"Households with children and households of color have been disproportionately impacted by the increased need during COVID-19," Conwell reported. "Here in this area, Black and Latino households are more than twice as likely to experience food insecurity as white households."
He added the Food Bank also has mobile pantries for people who can't get out to shop for groceries, as well as programs for enrolling in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Between 2019 and 2021, SNAP has seen an increase of seven million people receiving benefits.
We had difficulties when we were growing up in Martin county, Kentucky but overall, we thought we were doing okay. President Lyndon Johnson came to Inez, Kentucky in 1964 to let us know we weren’t doing very well. He began his campaign in our community and we became the poster child for American poverty. We hadn’t really thought of ourselves as poor until we started hearing about ourselves in the news.
I had numerous friends who didn’t get much for Christmas. Often it was one or two small gifts or nothing at all.
Several classmates at my elementary school in Tomahawk, Kentucky were fortunate if they had a coat to wear in the winter. Ragged looking shoes on a kid’s feet during the winter was a common sight.
Several classmates came to school to wash their faces and hands in the boys’ bathroom. The school lunch was the only decent meal some of the kids ate during the week.
It was a while before President Johnson’s 1964 promises started helping our area. Even with the roll out of government assistance many families subsisted until the coal boom of the seventies which has almost died. Today our county is reinventing itself with agriculture, a service center to aid bitcoin mining, tourism and small businesses.
I don’t remember every Christmas, but I remember one. My dad broke his back falling off a barn when I was a child. He was out of work for several months and in those days, we didn’t have government safety nets to see us through tough financial times. Christmas came as usual and we did put up a tree. Our family gathered on Christmas Eve and we had food, fellowship and laughter. We always raised a garden and my parents stored food so it came in handy during tough times.
I expected nothing for Christmas that year because the heaviness of family financial pressure was obvious even as a child. Surprisingly, my mother handed me a small wrapped box that Christmas Eve and said Merry Christmas. I was shocked because I expected nothing that year. Opening the box, I found a watch that had numbers that glowed in the dark. It may have cost $5 but it was priceless to me. I was thrilled and wore it every night to just look at the glowing numbers.
Dad was recuperating that Christmas. His temporary disability and our financial stress made life gloomy for us that year. Yet, here I am remembering that Christmas as one of the best of all. It was during that Christmas that I remember the presence of family. Mom and dad were alive. We had food to eat. We had a roof over our heads and our family had each other.
This may not be your best Christmas, but maybe, just maybe you can still have Christmas.
The empty chair is painful. Depression is real. Financial or other personal difficulties may have disabled you. Millions have died from Covid-19. Thousands are suffering from horrific tornadoes and loss of life. Hurricanes have pounded us in the East and fires have incinerated our West. In the midst of all this inflation eats away at America’s paychecks like an unchecked malignancy.
The message of Christmas is the story of peasant parents, enduring difficult travel, taxes to be paid and no place to sleep but a barn and a cow’s trough for their newborn baby. Somehow, they found strength in each other and in God who brought them and their baby through a very difficult time. We never forget their story and their plight, it’s truly a Christmas worth remembering.
We are going to remember this Christmas, no doubt. Somehow, someway, with God’s help and each other, may this be a Christmas worth remembering.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.
This article is the sole opinions of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Sentinel. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.
I grew up in Martin county, Kentucky. We were considered one of the poorest counties in the United States. In April, 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson and his entourage of staff, secret service, media and other politicians swarmed into the county seat of Inez during his war on poverty campaign tour.
Johnson and the entourage rode through our town waving and then proceeded on down route 3, which was less than three miles north of my homeplace. He walked onto the porch of a local family where he did a photo session that would be shown on every media source around the world. I just watched it on YouTube.
He then returned to his Cadillac, came back through Inez and shook a few hands at the courthouse before he boarded his helicopter and left us. He had what he needed which were real pictures of real poverty and a story of real poverty from the hills of East, Kentucky.
There was nothing about Johnson's visit that communicated anything about the white privilege of East, Kentucky. We had never heard of white privilege. We hadn't thought much about privilege or poverty either. I don't think too many of us thought we were poor. We didn't know the difference really. We didn't have anybody telling us that we should be demanding equity with others in the country.
After Johnson flew out, we resumed our normal lifestyles. The family pictured in the photo op continued to have a very difficult life of poverty. Even though they had the President of the United States on their front porch it wasn't enough to save them from lives of poverty and difficult times. President Johnson's intentions were good. He led Congress to pass the Economic Opportunity Act in August, 1964 which was part of his war on poverty effort.
It was a nice gesture.
Unfortunately, families throughout Martin county and East, Kentucky still grappled with poverty after the government money and new programs were approved.
Going to the bathroom meant going outside to a tiny little building built over a hole in the ground. In the winter, trudging snow to go to the bathroom at any hour of the day was cruel.
Common life continued to be living without indoor plumbing. For many people this meant a very difficult life of finding alternative ways to access water. Some people had outdoor wells. They would drop a bailer bucket into a well and "draw" up a bucket of water. Several of my family members had wells of this nature and I remember their water tasting pretty good.
This also meant many families did not have indoor bathrooms. Going to the bathroom meant going outside to a tiny little building built over a hole in the ground. In the winter, trudging snow to go to the bathroom at any hour of the day was cruel.
This also meant taking a bath by collecting water from the well and carrying it into the house which involved a lot of carrying if you were going to take a bath. The same process occurred when washing clothes. Enough water had to be collected to wash and then rinse the clothes. This was a massive job. Does this sound like white privilege?
By the time I was born, my family had indoor plumbing and we had one bathroom. We still had an outdoor toilet that sat out from the house in the back yard. I tore it down a couple of years back. Actually, it was hard to tear it down because I knew it symbolized a very different era of life which too many of us Appalachian people are all too familiar.
We had terrible water as a kid. It was really bad to drink and terrible for washing clothes. The sulfur in the water would ruin our clothes. This meant my mother was always catching rain water in large tubs outside the house. In dry weather when I was a child we would walk to the creek and carry water back to the house one bucket at a time. That always embarrassed me as a kid. I don't know why. Most of the people up and down the creek where I lived had to do the same thing plus many of these people did not have indoor plumbing either. Does this sound like white privilege?
When school was in session at my elementary called Tomahawk, I sat with classmates every day who came to school hungry. The free school lunch program was the only decent meal they ever got to eat. Several boys in our school who did not have indoor plumbing came to school dirty but would often stand in the school bathroom washing their hands and faces before class. I'm sure some girls did the same thing Our little elementary school bathroom was a luxury to them. Does this sound like white privilege?
I hear all this talk about white privilege. Growing up in an inner-city dwelling is surely filled with hardships but these dwellers at least have access to a real kitchen, running water, an indoor bathroom and even television and radio reception. These are luxuries that many Appalachian kids did not have growing up.
Even today, in too many places in East, Kentucky and throughout Appalachia there are still families growing up without indoor bathrooms, access to water and surviving daily hunger. Internet cannot be found in too many Appalachian areas. These are the scenarios that have become ignored by media, government and employers. Thank God it's not even close to what it once was but I've been in the hollers of the mountains and seen enough to know poverty is still real and a cruel existence.
Today, 14 of the 50 poorest counties in the United States are all from the same East Kentucky region that Johnson visited in 1964.
For Martin county, "The per capita income is just over $18,000," according to the 2019 Census reporter. Twenty-six (26.3) percent of the county is still at the poverty level according to Data USA with a median household income of $35,125. The county is 99 percent white. Does this sound like a place of white privilege?
McCreary county is located in the Daniel Boone National Forest in southern Kentucky along the Tennessee state border. The only county nationwide where most households earn less than $20,000 a year, McCreary is the poorest county in both Kentucky and the United States. The life expectancy is just 73 according to USA Today. Does this sound like white privilege?
The Washington Post reported that the life expectancy for the 5thdistrict in Eastern, Kentucky is under 73 making it the shortest life span expectancy in the United States. Owsley County Kentucky's life span expectancy has been reported to be 67.3 years while in San Jose, California the life expectancy is 83.
The white privilege I enjoyed as a kid was that I was fortunate to be raised around hard-working people.
My dad spent four hours a day driving to and from Holden, West Virginia to work in an underground coal mine. He spent over 30 years stooped over, on his knees or on his back in a dark coal mine. He made a living until at the age of 55 his health started failing him and he had to quit.
He and my mother kept food on the table. We raised a garden. We had livestock. My family worked hard. My uncles and aunts farmed and worked whatever jobs they could find to make ends meet. My grandfather and grandmother Hinkle worked in a very small grocery store six days a week until he was 83 and she was 80. They worked hard until they died.
No one had unemployment checks rolling in. No one had Social Security Disability checks. No one was receiving stimulus checks. There weren't food stamps or other federal or state money available to help anyone out. Our family had a mindset to work because that was our only means of surviving.
I have never experienced anything like what some of my American friends have experienced growing up. Or, what some still experience.
I'm certainly not intending to belittle your experiences or trying to "one up you" on who was poorer or had it harder. Just be aware that Appalachia is still filled with hurting, poverty-stricken people of different colors.
Poverty never comes with privilege, regardless of color.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is a syndicated American columnist and author of American Issues, Every American Has An Opinion and ten other books. He is read in all 50 states. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization.
PONTIAC - People everywhere are conquering their cabin fever and are enjoying the great outdoors after a long, bitter winter. But before you head out for that hike, health care experts remind you to take precautions to avoid tick bites. Read more . . .
CHICAGO - An Illinois law professor is weighing in on what she called a "very public and open test of due process" for immigrants being deported from the United States without court hearings. Read more . . .
CHAMPAIGN - In a show of solidarity against President Donald Trump's trade and immigration policies, which critics say are harming families and retirement savings, more than a thousand protesters gathered Saturday at West Park near downtown Champaign for the Hands-Off! Mobilization rally. Read more . . .
Photo Galleries
A couple of runners found themselves in the wrong race at this year's Illinois Marathon. Over 60 photos from the race that you should see.
by Judith Ruiz-Branch
When I was a child at Tomahawk Elementary School in Martin County, Kentucky there were many kids who got little to nothing for Christmas. I had classmates who I would never ask if they got anything for Christmas because I already knew the answer. Some of these kids were just glad to be in school. At school they could receive a free lunch and have access to a bathroom which they didn’t have at home. This also meant they could wash their faces and their hands which was difficult at home especially in the winter months. While most of us didn’t have much, what we did have seemed like a lot to those who had nothing.
This is where you need to stop and think. You stress about all you may not have but what do you have in comparison to those who have nothing? Do you have a place to sleep? Do you have a comfortable bed? Is your house or apartment warm and comfortable? Do you know you will have food to eat on Christmas day? Do you have a television to watch? Do you have a telephone? Do you have a few dollars in your pocket?
I’m very aware there are millions of Americans who are below the financial income poverty level. They have it tough. Our cities are filled with growing numbers of homeless populations. People are sleeping under bridges, overpasses and on riverbanks. Too many of these have met with unfortunate circumstances in life due to bad choices, addictions, unemployment, mental illness, and family issues. The list is never-ending. This doesn’t make their lives any easier. Just because there is a reason for the problems doesn’t make their burdens lighter or unnoticeable. Their reality is still harsh and painful.
Millions more immigrants are coming to America. Where will they sleep? Where will they work? Many of them will work for $8 an hour and work hard but many of them will be homeless or stranded in homeless shelters on government dependence for a long time. Would any of us want to trade places with them? I don’t think so.
Whatever darkness you are facing this Christmas is your reality. Seeing the hurts of others doesn’t make your troubles go away. However, if you can be thankful for the life you have, then maybe Christmas will take on a whole new light.
Look to the most special gift of all this Christmas – the baby in the manger. Shepherds raced to see the baby just as the angels said they would. Wise men came from the east and worshipped him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Mary and Joseph did the best they could as peasant parents of a new baby boy.
Keep the scripture of Isaiah 9:6 handy this Christmas. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Price of Peace.
May His peace comfort your heart and be your light and strength through this seasonand every day to come.
