Posted on 12/11/2011 9:30:24 AM PST by Nachum
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mary Power is 92 and worried about surviving another frigid New England winter because deep cuts in federal home heating assistance benefits mean she probably can't afford enough heating oil to stay warm.
She lives in a drafty trailer in Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood and gets by on $11,148 a year in pension and Social Security benefits. Her heating aid help this year will drop from $1,035 to $685. With rising heating oil prices, it probably will cost her more than $3,000 for enough oil to keep warm unless she turns her thermostat down to 60 degrees, as she plans.
"I will just have to crawl into bed with the covers over me and stay there," said Power, a widow who worked as a cashier and waitress until she was 80. "I will do what I have to do."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I hate to be harsh, but I’m not going to burst into tears over this lady either. I mean, I grew up reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books about living in a dug-out on the prairie, or later sleeping in an attic and waking up with a foot of snow covering the bed. The old-timers toughed it through living conditions 100 times harsher than anyone in this day and age. We’ve gotten pretty soft.
It's probably "annual pension and Social Security" together totaling $12K. And while it's not bad, it doesn't cover $3K for heating. I have the same problem and considerably less income. I couldn't dream of turning on the heat when the temp drops to 60 -- with three quarters of a tank needed to last all winter. I put it on when the outside temp is 22, and then it's just to keep the pipes from freezing and the house from being condemned because I couldn't pay a plumber to repair them.
As for senior housing, that costs taxpayers money -- her pension and Social Security are not welfare, and the woman worked until the age of 80. Also, when you apply for senior housing you are expected to have few assets and your house has to be sold or given away -- and a sale is factored into your financial qualifications. You never know until you sell your home, whether you're even qualified for housing assistance. Sell it in this market, and hope the sale won't count against you? Talk about "basic stupidity."
I'll shiver with the unmortgaged roof over my head rather than place myself permanently and irretrievably at the mercy of some bureaucracy that wants me to self-dispossess to qualify for their strings-attached charity.
One will not freeze tuning the thermostat to 60º.GEEZ! That is where I keep mine most of the time but then I have to pay my bill myself.You wear heavier clothes and use throws when watching TV.
I never used heating oil, but where I live, you can do a budget payment plan for gas. I pay $70 a month spread out over the year. Nice set amount with no surprises. I think that’s cheap.
Our heating assistance programs have been telling clients for months bot to expect much help this year. Too many people looking for help and not enough resources to go around. Maybe she should have planned ahead. I wonder how many people like her spend their checks on bingo or the lottery, then don’t have enough money for the heating bill.
Probably due to the breakup of extended families we’ve seen in the decades since Social Security passed. Nowadays, more and more people just take it for granted that the government will take care of their relatives, and they don’t need to take any responsibility.
I have a plan like that for electric usage. Last year it was $60 per month. This year, with no changes whatsoever in my usage, they raised it to $90 and tacked on a 10% "administrative fee" as well. But it is still more affordable than heating oil. We spend most of the winter in one room of the house and the plumbing gets the benefit of the electric heat. The hundred gallons or so of oil in the tank, I won't even remember it by February.
You do what you have to do, as the lady in the article said. We bundle up, in a room with southern light, and make sure it's as well insulated as possible. For me the biggest problem is not staying warm, it's staying awake nights worrying about the pipes breaking or the heaters malfunctioning or the wiring frying or the power going out or some critter getting into the basement and knocking a heater over.
I worried before we were poor, too -- just about different stuff! :)
You have a tv? Luxury!! /4yorkshiremen
She is 92. How many people at 92 have anyone left in their own generation? Her youngest child possible would be in their 70s. What if those family members are also dirt poor? Any grandchildren or grand nieces/nephews could also be in their 50s and in bad straits.
I do believe assistance might be available, but they make you spend down to nothing with no hard assets. Not that a trailer house is worth much, anyway.
What folks don’t realize is that the heating aid is a pool. It is paid for by those who pay for fuel or electric heat. More folks in bad situations equals less per fuel voucher. It is sent to the supplier and the time lag can be 6-8 weeks or so it has been in the past out here, where the rural fuel is propane.
This woman worked until she was 80. She has too much income to get food stamps in my state. Not even sure she could get SSI.
I did a major shopping yesterday. The stores were jammed, especially Aldi’s and Sam’s. Even the Mexican families were not being spendthrifts. I saw one family with mom, dad, 4 kids and what was probably a BIL. The men were deciding on everything that went into the cart. I saw them load up on 8 packages of the mini tortillas, 2 dozen eggs, some cheese and some 2 gallon containers of cheap juice. Likely they have 20#-50# bags of rice and beans at home. I saw the older man decide against some items that the wife had put in the cart and watched her put them back. I didn’t see them check out, but it made an impression on me. I did not see overflowing carts anywhere. I saw discussions between spouses, people checking off lists, people reading the labels and best by dates and weight/quantity and discussing those.
I spent 2x what I usually do at Aldi’s since I have experienced their products and bought my items there that were good quality buys at a savings. We splurged at the meat counter at Sam’s because we decided we would rather have a good piece of beef every 7-10 days than other items for the holidays. Also, we normally make a rib roast for Christmas and I didn’t even see one, anywhere. Instead, we bought an obscenely expensive whole rib eye, cut off a roast and made the rest into thick steaks that we will split. They will have to last us 3 months to justify the price.
Everyone is hurting and the most vulnerable are hurting the most. I hope the judgmental posters never have the experience of being asked to name their next of kin on some official form and having to reply that there is no one.
I’ll never understand how this is my problem as a taxpayer and rather than something that her family should be doing. I have helped many family members over the years....it’s what families should do.
Yeah, and the average lifespan was only about 49 years. Tough living takes a toll. I’m only heating to around 50 degrees during the day and turning the furnace off at night to save money, but for someone who is in their 90s, lowering the thermostat to 60 degrees could have a notable health risk.
Yeah, and the average lifespan was only about 49 years. Tough living takes a toll. I’m only heating to around 50 degrees during the day and turning the furnace off at night to save money, but for someone who is in their 90s, lowering the thermostat to 60 degrees could have a notable health risk.
Yeah, and the average lifespan was only about 49 years. Tough living takes a toll. I’m only heating to around 50 degrees during the day and turning the furnace off at night to save money, but for someone who is in their 90s, lowering the thermostat to 60 degrees could have a notable health risk.
It isn’t Obamanomics, it’s Obamunism.
Obamaville, it isn’t a place, it’s a lifestyle.
For someone in their 90s, EVERYTHING is a risk. Taking a bath is a risk. A flight of stairs is a risk. It is not the government’s job to remove all risk.
My sympathies are limited. She is 92. Assuming she or her spouse began working at 18, she’s had upwards of 74 YEARS to make preparations for her retirement. She did not and expects others to cover for her misjudgment.
Obamacare will remove this problem.
Quotation marks around the word "borrow", duly noted. I've "loaned" money like that.
The northeast poor should all go to beautiful, sunny, southern California. All of them. Pay for their travel, even. California is completely and hopelessly down the Democrat toilet anyway, so who cares?
These are difficult times for too many people who played by the rules and who were screwed in the end by this economic disaster.
I can’t imagine how difficult it would be for an elderly citizen to stay warm in a trailor in Boston, no matter the cost of heating.
She lives in Roxbury so she’s not surrounded by neighbors and family who are any better off than she is. She might be the richest in the family and hood.
My mother is 91 and doesn't live like this woman lives. She makes it on her own and another thing is that I and my brothers and sisters would simply not allow her to live that way.
Has she no family at all?
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