New York Estate Planning & Elder Law Blog

If you are approaching retirement age, or are still in the middle of your career, understanding the Social Security program, and what income you can rely on when you retire will help you properly plan for your retirement.

 Social Security Credits + Full Retirement Age

Eligibility for Social Security benefits based on your own work record depends on the total number of Social Security credits earned plus your full retirement age. For most Americans, after earning 40 Social Security “credits” or 40 quarters of coverage, they are eligible for Social Security benefits. In 2019, one Social Security credit was earned for every $1,360 in Social Security taxable income earned for a maximum of four credits and $5,440 in a calendar year.

More than 30 million Americans are living with diabetes. Many types of insulin can be used to treat diabetes and are usually described by how they affect your body. According to WebMd, insulin is a hormone that your pancreas makes to allow cells to use glucose. When your body isn’t making or using insulin correctly, you can control your blood sugar by taking man-made insulin.

 The American Diabetes Association, published its Conclusions and Recommendations, made by the Insulin Access and Affordability Working Group to tackle the rising cost of insulin. In the seminal report, they found that “Achieving glycemic control and controlling cardiovascular risk factors have been conclusively shown to reduce diabetes complications, comorbidities, and mortality. To achieve these desired outcomes, the medical community now has available many classes of medications and many formulations of insulin to effectively manage the metabolic abnormalities for people with diabetes. However, the affordability of medications in general, and for insulin specifically, is currently of great concern to people with diabetes, their families, health care providers, insurers, and employers. For millions of people living with diabetes, including all individuals with type 1 diabetes, access to insulin is literally a matter of life and death. The average list price of insulin has skyrocketed in recent years, nearly tripling between 2002 and 2013. The reasons for this increase are not entirely clear but are due in part to the complexity of drug pricing in general and of insulin pricing in particular. As the price of insulin continues to rise, individuals with diabetes are often forced to choose between purchasing their medications or paying for other necessities, exposing them to serious short- and long-term health consequences.”

 Is it legal to enter U.S. with insulin from Canada?

In the early 2000s it was common for groups of seniors in Michigan to travel to Canada by bus to buy cheaper prescription drugs. Church groups, community groups, and senior citizen groups routinely organized these trips to help people buy their prescription drugs. Prescription drug prices are the highest in the world. Across the board, all prescription drugs in the U.S. are higher than in any other country. There is no dispute from any American that prescription drug prices are high, even if an individual has a health insurance plan that covers all or part of their prescription process.

 Plans to combat rising prescription drug prices

 Combating rising prescription drug prices are an issue that has wide support among the American public. This past summer, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, running for U.S. President in 2020, traveled with a group of seniors to Canada to buy insulin, to build support for various proposals for lowering prescription drug prices in the U.S. The Trump Administration is working on a plan to import certain prescription drugs from Canada directly. A bill making its way through the U.S. House of Representatives is seeking to allow Medicare to negotiate down drug prices.

There are many reasons, all quite valid, that people enter retirement with little to no savings. Prolonged medical illness, catastrophic life events, poor job prospects, or modest means, are just some of the many reasons that contribute to little to no retirement savings for many seniors. As children of such parents, there are steps you can take now that can lessen the economic impact of little retirement savings on your parent’s lives.

For starters, many seniors live with a child. The Harvard Health Letter analyzed data from the U.S. Census and concluded that close to 3.4 million people over the age of 65 were living with an adult child. Housing, for many people, regardless of age, is a big chunk of a person’s household budget. Living with an adult child can help seniors reduce and even eliminate such an expenditure. Solving housing issues is just one consideration.

Approach the issue of little to no retirement savings holistically. Begin the process with the goal of getting all of your parents’ financial affairs in order. Here are some tips you and your siblings can implement.