The Me-Too Movement Left This Lady on the Shelf
Old age, illness and poverty can be an ongoing assault with no way out.
Being poor is only romantic in old books.
Women are living longer than men, but they are not living better. Research suggests that women are squandering the coins of their golden years living with chronic illness or disability.
“Women may be living longer but not healthier lives than men,” says Eileen Crimmins of the University of Southern California. Her team examined life expectancy and disability rates in the 40-year period from 1970 to 2010.1Their analysis of U.S. vital statistics shows that both men and women saw lifespan increases, but women are spending a larger share of the additional years with a disability than men.
Women are more likely than men to develop a number of debilitating conditions such as arthritis, fall-related fractures and dementia that could limit their ability to remain independent without assistance.
Women are more vulnerable to autoimmune diseases and three risks associated with autoimmune diseases are genetics, infection and being female. Although being female and having chronic illnesses has often been related to the longer lives of females; being female has a direct relationship to autoimmune diseases; 78% with autoimmune diseases are women. Almost 2/3 of Alzheimer’s patients are women. Connection?
Infection sounds remote, but poor women put off dentist or doctor visits. The visits cost too much. Infected teeth, urinary tract infections and upper respiratory infections are common, and when left untreated, can lead to dementias and autoimmune disorders.
The female body may be more vulnerable to autoimmune dysregulation and there is significant risk of illnesses like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and fibromyalgia, especially when a woman is over-stressed and pinched for lack of funds.
I often wonder if the elderly women limping along on painful knees and hips are ‘happy’ working at Walmart. I do give Walmart credit for hiring them.
Low economic status often puts an older woman into a caregiver position with no escape.
When elderly parents begin to fail, who’s the first person to step up? Why, the daughter, of course!
Elderly parents are not always eligible for nursing care funding, and their care may fall to a woman also approaching older age. Although seemingly very altruistic and compassionate, this position can become a nightmare. Parents are sometimes adamant about not accepting outside help, and the caregiver becomes seriously burned out after years of parental deterioration.
One would think that getting a Medicaid-eligible, aging parent, spouse, or other loved one into a nursing home would be a relatively easy fix. However, due to the nuances of Medicaid acceptance and the complexities of nursing home law, it is not a simple, nor a fast process. Multiple issues can combine to make the process even more challenging, such as the limited availability of “Medicaid beds” in nursing homes. Furthermore, most nursing homes will not accept a new resident unless they have a way to pay for their care, and Medicaid will not accept the applicant until they have been admitted into a nursing home.
This, combined with parental resistance, guarantees a care-taking, elderly woman a life of heavy lifting, stress and poverty.
Low socio-economic status exacerbates the risk of mental illness
Poverty is found to be a serious risk factor for declines in mental status for older persons. People at the lower end of socioeconomic status are more likely to be diagnosed with a psychological disorder. Women are three times more likely than men to receive this diagnosis. Depression and anxiety are common disorders. These are also common disorders related to autoimmune diseases like lupus.
In part of a recent study, researchers found that women who felt securely attached to their partners were less depressed and more happy in their relationships two-and-a-half years later, and also had better memory functions than those with frequent marital conflicts.
Secure attachment to family and friends might also make women happier.
“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
— Robert Waldinger
Altogether, the stresses of poverty can CAUSE mental disorders. Ask any homeless person about that.
Drug prices price many out of the market
For some, the age of 60 is a time for increasing health problems, but 65 is the age for Medicare assistance and some drugs are unaffordable at 50 or 60. Women of these ages are often still working at low-paying jobs because they HAVE to work. Women lose job time and opportunity raising children, and this is not compensated. Once child-rearing is completed, starting over at the bottom rung of the job market at 50 is not a game-plan for success. Even with insurance, necessary drugs are often unaffordable.
If they are married, women are more likely to be employed in low-wage or part-time jobs with no benefits and less likely than men to have health insurance through their work. Since they are more likely to be covered as dependents by a husband’s insurance, women are more susceptible to losing health coverage if family benefits are reduced or in the event of divorce or death.
While the poorest of us may be eligible to receive necessary medications for free or at low price through patient assistance programs, millions of low-and middle-income women tumble through the cracks. They don’t qualify for patient assistance and must foot some, if not all, of the bill themselves.
It’s no wonder that women are also more likely than men to forgo medical treatment because of high drug prices. In a survey by Kaiser Health, 22 percent of women reported leaving a prescription unfilled or rationing doses because of cost; only 12 percent of men reported doing the same. A month’s supply of Humalog, a diabetes medication, may cost $325. This is a week’s wage for some.
Between 2012 and 2018, the price of Lyrica—a drug that treats the neuropathic disorder fibromyalgia that is commonly diagnosed in women—more than doubled, despite the fact that the drug has been on the market for 14 years. This drug is also used to treat diabetic neuropathy, a serious debility for those who must stand on their feet to work.
Of the top-selling drugs in America in 2017, none had a higher price hike over this six-year period than Lyrica. Today, a one-year course of treatment costs about $7,500.
The way-back machine
To fire up the way-back machine, elderly widows or divorced lived with family 30 years ago. Both of my grandmas lived with us when I was a child, which was a burden for Mom, but she was an energy bunny, and young. My mother’s grandma lived with her family when she was a child, and my husband’s grandma lived with his mother and brother and sister. His mom was single.
Was this better for elderly women?
It seems they were healthier, although their lives were not so long without the drugs and doctoring we have today. They were not expected to go out and bring home the bacon, but they helped out, they had duties within the home in keeping with their physical status.
We might add that, from previous research in this article, female health is negatively impacted by stress. The prevalence of autoimmune diseases in women easily points this out. The family living arrangement may have been less stressful for older women.
As the Harvard Gazette points out: “Good genes are nice, but joy is better”.
The grandmas and older single ladies living with family got to experience all the joy of family living (along with its down side) and they actively participated. If my grandma hadn’t taught me my multiplication tables, I would never have bothered with them. Imagine our triumph when I scored 100% on my multiplication test on Friday!
Does physical fitness play a part?
Of course fitness is very important, especially for us older women. But, fitness has to matter enough to make the attempt to be healthier. With duties too difficult for an aging person, along with low income, chronic loneliness or constant strife in the home, a goal of fitness seems superfluous.
Money talks
In my opinion, money buys just about everything, but joy. That is up to you. Therefore, improving the lives of elderly poor women starts with money, and that, for most poor women, begins with Social Security. This is a misnomer, the payments do not improve social access and they certainly don’t make poor people ‘secure’.
Why not allow the widow/widower to collect benefits comparable to those collected when a spouse was living? My mother was fearful of my dad’s death, not only because she loved him deeply, but because her monthly income would be halved by pension and Social Security. She had spent the major part of her life working at home for family.
Norway agrees. The redistributive mechanism in the Norwegian pension and tax system reduces the 43 percent income difference between working women and men to only seven per cent in pension income. It is being done.
Social Pensions
The good news is that more and more countries are implementing non-contributory social pensions, often on a universal basis, which provide a basic stipend for all older women and men. Women who spent years raising families and not accumulating Social Security are eligible for this stipend. Evidence shows they bolster women’s economic autonomy, strengthen their voice and agency, and can be an effective way of recognizing the value of women’s unpaid work.
Much more needs to be done
Money worries are imbedded in our social landscape. However, a decent life, without scraping for every penny, needs to be accessible to all of our elderly, especially those who have spent their lives contributing much to the welfare of home and children.