After a long career as an office manager in St. Louis, Debbie Haupt retired at age 60 so she could provide full-time care for her ailing husband. “I had been planning to work at least until 68, maybe 70,” she says, “but Parkinson’s had other ideas.”
Fortunately, as an older American, Haupt could rely on another source of sustenance. “Social Security has been my lifeline,” she says. “I paid into it all those years, and when I badly needed the help, it was there.”
“Medicare is the best health insurance I ever had,” she says. “The deductibles I had when I was on private insurance — I could never pay that much now. But Medicare is a godsend.”
Think only old folks benefit from Social Security and Medicare?
As Chappel points out in his 2024 book Golden Years, people 65 and older aren’t the only beneficiaries of these so-called old-age programs. Social Security and Medicare serve younger generations as well, sparing them from the financial challenges of supporting older family members and friends.
“I know my kids would help if they had to, but I don’t want to make them do it,” says Donna Dalrymple, 68, an AARP member in New Hampshire who is facing expensive treatments for blood cancer. “With Medicare [Part] D, I can afford to control this cancer. I don’t have to impose those costs on my family.”
