“If I were a younger person, I think I would be able to rebound from all the difficulties I’m having,” she told me. “I just never foresaw myself being in this situation at the age I am now.”
Elaine Ross
“Please help! “Please help! [am]Disabled on Disability. My husband is on Social Security, and we can’t even afford groceries. This is not what I had in mind for the golden years.”
Ross, aged 65, tells us about the tornado that struck central Florida in 2007 and destroyed her house. Too late, she learned her insurance coverage wasn’t adequate and wouldn’t replace most of her belongings.
Ross worked two jobs in order to make ends work: she was a hairdresser and she was a customer representative at a convenience shop. She bought a new house with Douglas Ross, her husband who is a machinist. It was possible to get back on your feet.
Elaine Ross then fell twice in several years and broke her leg. She had to have three hip replacements. Ross was unable to work because of diabetes. In 2016, Ross applied for Social Security Disability Insurance. This pays $919 per month.
She doesn’t have a pension. Douglas stopped working in 2019, unable to cope with the demands of his job. He, too, doesn’t have a pension. With Douglas’ Social Security payment of $1,051 a month, the couple live on just over $23,600 annually. They sold their home after their meager savings were destroyed by various emergencies.
Their rent in Empire (Alabama), where they live now, is $540 per month. Other regular expenses include $200 a month for their truck and gas, $340 for Medicare Part B premiums, $200 for electricity, $100 for medications, $70 for phone, and hundreds of dollars — Ross didn’t offer a precise estimate — for food.
“All this inflation, it’s just killing us,” she said. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the national average price of food will rise between 10% and 11% this year.
