Betty Ashbrook and a helpful friend recently lugged a twin bed down from an upstairs guest room into Ashbrook's dining area, making that the 64-year-old woman's new bedroom.
She did so not because she was having trouble navigating the stairs, but because she was struggling to pay her rapidly rising heating bills, the most recent of which was more than $200 - a quarter of her monthly income.
"I can't afford these gas bills like this," said Ashbrook, a widow. "So I brought my bed down on the first floor, so that I can pretty much live on one floor. I don't have to heat the whole house."
As the economy worsens, many Marylanders must make adjustments to make ends meet. But senior citizens, many of whom are on fixed incomes, are being particularly hard hit - so much so that Congress voted to add aid for low-income seniors to President Bush's economic stimulus program.
The compromise, which includes rebates of $600 for individuals making up to $75,000 in taxable income a year and $1,200 for couples that earn up to $150,000 annually, would provide $300 payments to individuals who paid no income taxes but earned at least $3,000 from Social Security or veterans' disability benefits .
"Seniors need the money. They have to deal with increases in health care and gas costs, just like anyone else who's working," said Maria Freese, director of government relations and policy for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, which pushed for the aid. "And seniors are one of the groups most likely to spend any money that you give them."
For many older Americans those dollars don't stretch very far.
With costs of health care, housing, energy, transportation and food on the rise, low- and moderate-income seniors find themselves in a bind.
Many haven't saved enough to enjoy their older years without financial worry, and they aren't poor enough to qualify for government assistance programs.
"The only thing I get for help is my Medicare," said Ashbrook, referring to the federal program that provides health coverage to those 65 and over and some others. "Other than that, they say my income is too much. I get a little over $800 a month [from Social Security]. That seems like a lot of money until you start paying it out."
Ashbrook's story is all too common, experts say.
"Those older Americans on fixed incomes, their incomes just aren't increasing to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of health care, utilities and, in some cases, gasoline," said Tiffany Lundquist, a spokeswoman for Maryland's chapter of AARP.
Social Security payments increase annually by about 2.3 percent to keep up with rising costs of living, Lundquist said. At the same time, however, Medicare premiums are going up an average of 3.1 percent.
Other rising costs
And seniors are being hit by other increased living costs: soaring prescription drug costs (only some of which are covered by Medicare's drug benefit, leaving many seniors to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket); gasoline prices hovering about $3 a gallon; and a 72 percent Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. rate increase last year.
"And then ... your utility bills are going up another 5 percent this year," Lundquist said. "So you can begin to see the problem."
Since 2002, the number of families with at least one person 60 or older that applied for help from the state with their home heating costs has gone up by 53.8 percent, said Ralph Markus, acting director of the state Department of Human Resources' Office of Home Energy Programs.
"We see a lot of people who are on Social Security, some of them who get only $600 or $700 a month," Markus said. "It's amazing how many we see at that level. If that's your only income, which it is for a lot of people, that's very, very tough to pay all your bills."
193,000 helped
Markus' office - which allocated $88.7 million to help more than 193,000 people last year - pays a portion of a heating bill for every qualified applicant. But this year, the office is feeling the pinch.
The worsening economy also has forced seniors to tighten their belts.
Ashbrook, for example, says she forgoes day trips that the local senior center offers. And she no longer buys Christmas gifts for her 11 grandchildren.
Estelle Brown of East Baltimore receives a Social Security check and a bit of her late husband's pension. With that she is able to buy groceries and pay for various medications, but not much else.
"I only spend the money that I need to spend, that I have to spend," said Brown, 76, a diabetic. "I don't go out very much. I go to church and go to the doctors. I don't have the extra money."
For 35 years, Brown ran a day-care center. After her husband of 55 years, a chemical plant worker, became ill, she had to give up the center to care for him. He died in June.
"Everything is on me now," she said. "Medication is so high, and food, everything. My gas and electric is outrageous. I had no thoughts of my husband leaving me. But since he's gone, I just have to do it on my own."
'Inflation factor'
Gloria G. Lawlah, secretary of the Maryland Department of Aging, said "the inflation factor" makes her "worried about our senior population."
"Going back even just five years, you're probably spending 40 percent more today than you had planned to spend, and you haven't done any extra; you're only living day-to-day," Lawlah said. "And seniors are feeling this more than any other part of the population."
John Parrish, executive director of the Erickson Foundation - a Catonsville firm that conducts research on aging issues and also operates assisted-living centers - predicted that 2008 would be a particularly hard year for those moderate-income seniors.
Parrish called for more "progressive public/private partnerships" to help older Marylanders live more affordable, enjoyable lives.
Emotional cost
Today's higher cost of living affects Maryland's seniors not only financially, but also emotionally, Parrish said.
"There was a belief that you would not only make it to the middle class, but stay there," Parrish said. "Many older adults are increasingly challenged to maintain and/or to achieve the quality of life that they long envisioned for themselves and their families during their working years."
Ashbrook says she doesn't know where she'd be without the help of her two daughters, who often buy grocery store gift cards to help offset her food costs.
"The bills are just going so high," she said. "We don't have a chance anymore. It's very hard."
Brown has three children, two of whom have kids in college, so she is reluctant to ask them for financial help - though she said she knows they would do whatever they could to help her.
She said she'd rather her children take care of themselves, so that they won't - in their old age - find themselves in a situation like hers.
"I just tell them to save as much as they can," Brown said.
tanika.white@baltsun.com
Getting help with utility bills
For qualified applicants, the Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) and the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP) can help offset some of the costs of rising utility bills. To apply: www.dhr.state.md. us/meap, or 800-352-1446. The state's Department of Human Resources can also take applications by mail.
[Source: Maryland Office of Home Energy Programs]