In June, the U.S. House passed a $93 million increase to the Older Americans Act‘s nutrition programs, raising total funding by about 10% to $1 billion in the next fiscal year. In inflation-adjusted dollars, that’s still less than in 2009. And it still has to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate, where the proposed increase faces long odds.
From Kaiser Health News:
“Starving Seniors: How America Fails To Feed Its Aging
, Sept. 3, 2019
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Army veteran Eugene Milligan is 75 years old and blind. He uses a wheelchair since losing half his right leg to diabetes and gets dialysis for kidney failure.
And he has struggled to get enough to eat.
Earlier this year, he ended up in the hospital after burning himself while boiling water for oatmeal. The long stay caused the Memphis vet to fall off a charity’s rolls for home-delivered Meals on Wheels, so he had to rely on others, such as his son, a generous off-duty nurse and a local church to bring him food.
“Many times, I’ve felt like I was starving,” he said. “There’s neighbors that need food too. There’s people at dialysis that need food. There’s hunger everywhere.”
Indeed…
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The Most Revolutionary Act 
Thanks for the reblog and the additional information. This slow starvation of seniors has been a problem for a long long time – as I am sure you know – but very little is written about it. There has long been a problem of seniors choosing between food and medication and air conditioning or heat. That was when people retired from living wages. Now most don’t earn living wages. Even seniors who can afford food may not be able to prepare it. That’s why I would like to see jobs go first to people from a community, so they can help their parents warm food, get to the doctor, etc. It’s difficult and sometimes impossible to uproot the elderly. This is about SNAP: “3 Million Could Lose Food Stamp Benefits Under Trump Administration Proposal” July 23, 2019 12:07 PM ET, by Pam Fessler. https://www.npr.org/2019/07/23/744451246/3-million-could-lose-food-stamp-benefits-under-trump-administration-proposal It’s unclear to me if I can put a comment on creative commons no-derivatives – I may have to reblog the post to comment!
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I see the same trend here in New Zealand, especially in the health care arena. Seniors (like myself) are regarded as useless eaters and the quicker we push off the better.
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Despite being utterly compromised our pseudo democratic politicians could be forced to respond positively to an organized seniors’ movement. Unfortunately most seniors are brainwashed and politically blinded and support the worst of the status quo to their own loss.
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Excellent point, Sha’Tara. I still know some very radical seniors in the US – in the Gray Panthers and Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action. They’re at the forefront of the movement for Medicare for All.
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