Monterey, CA Poor Seniors Forgo Medical Care, Good Diets To Make Ends Meet
by Richard Kuehn on 10/17/14
The tiny cost of living increase (COLA) that seniors have been getting on their Social Security checks have had many scrambling to make ends meet as their typical daily expenses like food, gas and medical costs have been rising rapidly. A new study found, not surprisingly, that Americans' eating habits have improved, except among the poor. The report, published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found that on an index of healthy eating where a perfect score is 110, adults averaged only 40 points in 1999 and 2000 but that metric rose to 47 points in 2009 and 2010. Scores for those with low incomes, many of whom are seniors, were lower than the average and barely moved during this time frame. Unfortunately, these poor eating habits increase the risks of diabetes and heart disease and end up costing all of us money.
