Aging African-Americans Are Hit With a Double-Whammy: Health and Financial Troubles

USA Today warns that an array of health and financial problems are converging on African-Americans as they age and could have a devastating impact on many. Black people as they age are more likely than white people to suffer medical conditions that lead to more severe health problems, not to mention higher health care costs and higher insurance costs. These problems are exacerbated by financial woes that range from inadequate savings to lower homeownership rates than whites as a group. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, CEO of the Global Policy Solutions social-change strategy firm, adds, "By the time we reach an age when chronic diseases catch up with us, we are ... dropping out of the workforce and relying on disability or taking early Social Security retirement." A recent CIGNA Health Disparities study found that: four in 10 African-American males aged 20 or older have high blood pressure; African-American women are 40 percent more likely to die of breast cancer than white women; African-Americans are 80 percent more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-Hispanic whites; and, finally, black people are more than twice as likely as white people to have various kinds of dementia. With a new report from Prudential Financial showing that 57 percent of black households have no retirement savings versus 44 percent of the general population, working longer becomes imperative for many. To help improve the finances of older African-Americans, an AARP Foundation program dubbed Work for Yourself@50+ has been successful putting low-income seniors back into the job sector. Also, the Senior Community Service Employment Program funded through the Older Americans Act has helped employ unemployed lower-income adults 55 and over.