Claudia Rufino, 72, tries not to make too much money.
She’s one of millions of Americans that rely on programs like Medicaid and housing assistance, and she said earning a higher paycheck could reduce her benefits.
“I want to be contributing to society because that’s the right way to do things,” Rufino, who first retired in the early 2010s, previously told Business Insider. “But I get punished if I work too much.”
Unretirement is growing among older Americans who hope to stay social and supplement what’s in the bank. But some crucial social safety nets like Medicaid, SNAP, and rental assistance have income limits for providing aid, pushing many older adults like Rufino to make sure they aren’t earning too much to cut off their benefits.
Rufino primarily lives on her $1,103 monthly Social Security and earns a few hundred dollars a month as a stipend working with foster children in Salt Lake City. She said the school district she works with recently offered her a higher-paid position, but she had to turn the offer down because it would put her income slightly over Utah’s Medicaid threshold, spiking her out-of-pocket costs for care and prescription drugs.
She added that a higher paycheck could reduce her rental support benefits, pushing the cost of her means-tested housing unit beyond what she can pay. She wouldn’t be able to afford rent in her area because she has very little savings, she added.
“Going back to work is not worth it for me in my situation,” Rufino said. “I don’t make enough money to make it worthwhile.”
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Some low-income older Americans struggle to navigate benefit thresholds
The share of Americans receiving government aid has increased over the past several decades. Programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and Social Security made up 18% of total personal income in the US in 2022 — totaling $3.8 trillion — which is a 9 percentage-point increase from 1970, per a report published in September 2024 by the Economic Innovation Group. The report said that the aging US population and skyrocketing healthcare costs are the main reasons for the shift.
At the same time, the US poverty line has remained largely unchanged since the 1960s. The threshold, which is currently $15,650 annually for one person, is adjusted each year for inflation but does not account for local cost of living or changing economic conditions.
Qualification standards for safety nets like SNAP and Medicaid are largely based on this measure — Americans making up to 133% of the poverty line can receive individual Medicaid benefits in states that expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act, for example — but exact limits can vary by program and state. Millions of low-income Americans live slightly above those aid cutoffs, but can’t afford essentials.
Judith Murray, for example, relies on her $1,311 monthly Social Security and $1,174 monthly SNAP allotment to get by in central Illinois. The 64-year-old said she has to stretch her monthly checks to cover basics for her seven-person household, which includes some of her children and grandchildren, and her fiancé, who recently lost his job: “It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s really not.” she told BI.
Murray said she’s been low-income for her entire life and hasn’t been able to build savings. She has been out of the labor force for several years and receiving disability benefits, but is now considering going back to work to help her family pay their housing and utility bills.
Still, Murray said she’s worried that any changes to her current income would reduce her SNAP benefit and make it difficult to buy enough groceries for her household. She added that her monthly SNAP was reduced this month because of the annual Social Security cost-of-living increase she received, and her household is a few months behind on bills because her fiancé lost his job.
“It makes no sense,” she said. “It is scary as hell for people to not be able to take care of their families.”
Tim Shaw, director of the benefits transformation initiative at the Aspen Institute and the senior policy advisor for the Aspen Financial Security Program, said that benefit qualification thresholds can be stressful to navigate, especially for older adults reentering the workforce.
“Often eligibility for different programs like SNAP, Medicaid, SSI, housing, they’re not the same,” he said. “If a household qualifies for multiple benefits, they’re trying to track the income limits of several programs at the same time, which can get really confusing and cause people to not take that new job or not take that raise.”
Shaw added that some safety net programs, like SSI, which provides benefits to disabled Americans, have asset limits. People receiving SSI can’t hold more than $2,000 in assets — like the value of their homes, cars, and savings accounts — without disrupting their benefits. Other programs, like SNAP, have both work requirements and income caps, which leaves beneficiaries walking a tightrope with how much they can earn.
Going back to work helps some retirees boost their income, but it’s a trade-off
Although some low-income older Americans like Rufino and Murray feel caught in a benefits catch-22, others find that returning to the labor force is in their best financial interest. BI has heard from older adults who chose to work beyond retirement age or ‘unretire’ during their golden years as a way to stay active or supplement their savings.
Social Security retirement benefits also do not have the same income restrictions as poverty line-based programs — recipients can hold a part- or full-time job without it impacting their monthly checks.
Karen Smith, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said that qualifying for safety nets isn’t “an all-or-nothing game.” She said staying in the workforce or going back to work can help older Americans stretch their savings longer and boost their monthly earnings. For some, she said this increased income can reduce or negate their need for safety nets altogether.
“I would say most people absolutely would benefit from going back to work,” she said.
Murray isn’t sure what she will do next. Because she’s over age 60 and has been out of the workforce for years, she’s concerned she won’t be hired. Even if she does land a job, she said she needs every dollar of benefit support she receives to keep her family afloat.
“This is by no means an easy road,” Murray said. “We still have birthdays to celebrate. We still have Thanksgiving to do and other holidays. When you see me out there buying a birthday cake with my SNAP benefit card, just to understand that I don’t want to let my little ones down anymore than you do.”
Are you struggling to navigate benefits thresholds? Are you open to sharing your experience with a reporter? If so, reach out to [email protected].
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