Hardly the golden years

from the San Luis Obispo Tribune

A meager income from Social Security is forcing one Grover Beach widow to ponder options that include moving in with one of her children, a last resort the independent-minded woman fears more than death
By Sarah Arnquist

When her husband of 42 years died in November, Josephine Klivans suddenly had to learn to live without him—and his income.

The Grover Beach woman, who turns 79 on Sunday, relies entirely on monthly Social Security payments, which fell to $1,391 a month from $2,060 after Harvey died and his payments stopped.

Her expenses, though, didn’t drop.
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Her rent and utilities average $1,200 a month. In addition, she has to put gas in the car and food on the table and pay her copayment share of the cost for medical appointments and prescription drugs.

“It just doesn’t equate,” Klivans said. “I told the Social Security guy yesterday I understand how good people wind up out on the street.”

Despite the growth of high-end senior living communities, many seniors in the county are like Klivans, living on Social Security, alone and struggling to afford the Central Coast’s high cost of living, said Joyce Lippman, executive director of the local Area Agency on Aging.

About 10 percent of seniors in the county live at or below the federal poverty level, which is $10,400 for a single person, according to U. S. Census figures.

Outliving their money

About 37,000 San Luis Obispo County residents, or 14 percent of the population, are 65 or older.

That number is projected to steadily increase as people live longer and move to this area for retirement. In 40 years, people 65 or older will make up more than 25 percent of the county population compared with the state’s 16 percent average, according to projections from the California Department of Finance.

While the longer lifespan is a blessing, Lippman said, many seniors find themselves unprepared for it.

“Many people are living longer than they thought they would and have outlived their money,” she said.

Even people who own their homes, she said, discover that relying exclusively on Social Security is difficult, especially if they are single. For those who rent, there isn’t enough affordable rental housing.

Renters living on Social Security must be subsidized by their children or in another way, said Bill Watkins, a UCSB economist who studies the Central Coast.

While the county’s overall senior population is expected to grow, Watkins expects to see a decline in the number of the very aged living out their final years here.

Once people can no longer enjoy the area’s amenities, he said, it doesn’t make sense for them to stay in this expensive area.

‘Who is this old lady?’

Klivans lives in a small, twobedroom apartment amid many seniors in a quiet neighborhood. Her decorative apartment reflects her decades of experience in the furniture and interior design field.

She walks with a cane, but still drives her 18-year-old Cadillac. While her body seems to be failing, her mind is sharp.

“I’m mentally not 79,” she said. “I look in the mirror, and I think, ‘Who is this old lady?’ ”

Klivans hasn’t lost her New York accent despite three decades of California living. Her vanity has not faded, either.

She was embarrassed to smile recently because an implanted fake tooth had fallen out.

Klivans doesn’t have dental insurance, and she can replace the tooth only because her daughter will pay for it.

“My kids would never let me go without,” she said.

When the money runs out before the end of the month, however, stress seems to tie her stomach into knots. She puts less gas in the car, pays less on bills and hopes she won’t have to ask her brother or her three daughters for help.

Depending on her children entirely, Klivans said, is “a mother’s bad dream.”

She dreads having to move, but may have no other option. She recently applied to senior housing, but the waiting list has 270 people. She hopes a twobedroom subsidized apartment, which goes for $575 a month, becomes available soon.

At the very worst, she may have to move in with one of her children. Although she loves them dearly, she said, she dreads that more than death.

“My independence is so important to me,” she said.

If she could only reduce her medical bills, Klivans said a big burden would be lifted.

In the months before Harvey Klivans died, he spent several weeks at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital. Medicare paid most of the bill, but there was still a $1,000 deductible and other co-pays.

At the end, Klivans owed the hospital more than $2,000. Shortly after her husband’s funeral, which her children paid for, Klivans’ income dropped.

“I couldn’t pay it,” she said.

She asked for help, and to her great relief, the hospital forgave the bill and wrote it off as charity care. The medical bills don’t stop, though.

Klivans has high blood pressure and cholesterol, arthritis and a heart valve problem. She takes 14 prescriptions morning, noon and night.

Doctor appointments fill her calendar, and each requires she pay a share of the cost.

‘A rude awakening’

Medical costs eat up many seniors’ budgets, Lippman said.

“People have this misperception that when they’re old, Medicare is going to pay for it all,” Lippman said. “It’s a rude awakening that it doesn’t.”

Medi-Cal, the combined state and federal insurance program for the poor and the disabled, supplements Klivans’Medicare insurance. But because her annual income of $16,600 is higher than the federal poverty level of $10,400 for a single person, she bears a share of the cost for Medi- Cal.

That means that each month, her medical expenses must exceed $783 before Medi-Cal pays anything.

“I don’t believe they understand how I am living,” Klivans said.

When asked if she could have prepared better or differently for these years, Klivans said she never expected walking would become a struggle or that she would worry about having enough money to fill her gas tank.

Klivans worked as a bank teller for 20 years and as a furniture store saleswoman for another 20. Her husband also always worked, but neither had jobs that provided a pension or retirement benefits.

They lived within their means, and “rolled with life’s punches,” she said.