Abstract:

It is argued that failure to acknowledge the heterogeneity of the aging United States population encourages policies that meet the needs of the majority of older people but discount the needs of those characterized by lifelong poverty. The overall economic well-being of the "oldest old," historically the poorest cohort among the aged, is anticipated to improve over the next fifty years, increasing the economic gap between the majority of the aged & a minority who will carry their existing poverty into old age. Economic protection can be improved & intergenerational stress reduced if ways are found to identify those with a high probability of poverty in old age, & if policies are developed to meet their future needs.