Millions of Older Americans Face Food Insecurity

The University of Michigan's (U-M) National Poll on Healthy Aging of 2,000 Americans estimated that prior to the COVID-19 crisis, one in seven adults ages 50 to 80 had difficulty getting enough food due to high costs or other obstacles, reports United Press International . Even higher numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and those not yet receiving Medicare faced food insecurity. Older poor people and those with less education also were more likely to have trouble getting food. Just 33 percent of these Americans were receiving government food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while less than 2 percent of people over 60 received free meals at senior communities or from Meals on Wheels. Older adults with food insecurity also were three times more likely to say they were in poor health, and almost five times as likely to report having fair or poor mental health. "These data suggest an important opportunity, which is likely even more urgent now, to connect older adults with resources they may not know about, and to explore public policies that could improve access," said U-M Professor Cindy Leung.