Study: Medicare-eligible seniors more likely to get food help
DALLAS — Low-income seniors were seven times more likely to visit a food pantry in the year after becoming Medicare eligible, leading to better food security, according to a new Dallas-based study from University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center.
Authors of the study looked at data from nearly 545 households that visited the Crossroads Community Services food pantry in Dallas, analyzing levels of food insecurity and the number of visits for food assistance in the two years before and two years after an individual’s 65th birthday, when most people become eligible for the federal senior health insurance program.
Researchers suspect that reaching Medicare eligibility may improve access to such services for a number of reasons, including newfound entry to the health care system. The findings could point community organizers toward additional methods for connecting an often overlooked age group to resources as food prices continue to climb with record-breaking inflation.
“We have been working to build this data set locally about how food assistance is associated with health,” said Sandi Pruitt, study leader and associate professor at the Peter O’Donnell Jr. School of Public Health. “Now we are beginning to understand the scope of the problem and what we need to do to improve the health of this really underserved, vulnerable group.”
In Texas, 9% of seniors were food insecure in 2020 and another 3.5% had very low food security, according to Feeding America’s latest State of Senior Hunger in America report. Food insecurity has been tied to poor health outcomes for seniors, who already experience higher rates of health issues than their younger counterparts.
The transitional time period associated with Medicare eligibility may provide an important opening to make older Texans more willing or able to access food services.
For some people, Medicare is the first health insurance they’ve ever had. That is especially true in Texas, which has the highest uninsured rate of any state.
“Having access to health care for the first time may give them an opportunity to interact with people in the health care system, like counselors, social workers, even physicians who are becoming more aware of the issue of food security and connecting people to resources over time,” Pruitt said.
As people age and retire from full-time work, they could have more time to access public services. They may also feel less worried about the stigma associated with visiting a food pantry.
Visiting food pantries repeatedly can help people exit the cycle of food insecurity, but people are often reluctant to visit too frequently, said study co-author Tammy Leonard, associate professor and chair of economics at the University of Dallas.
“Oftentimes, people don’t reach out for help until the situation is desperate because they are trying very hard to make it without that extra assistance,” she said. “Which can be noble, but it can also be punishing.”