Elderly Poverty in the United States in the 21st Century: Exploring the Role of Assets in the Supplemental Poverty Measure

Abstract

Official estimates of elderly poverty do not take into account either the medical needs of the elderly, which can be quite extensive, or the assets at their disposal, which may also be extensive. The new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) explicitly takes into account medical needs but has been criticized for not concomitantly taking into account asset portfolios. In this paper we consider both jointly, using an approach adapted from a recent National Academy of Sciences report recommending methods for measuring poverty and medical risk while taking account of assets. We use longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS).