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With Social Security possibly on the chopping block in debt talks in Washington, a report reveals that single, elderly, African-American women will be further driven into poverty.

According to the National Women’s Law Center’s analysis of Current Population Survey data shows that if chained CPI, a Social Security COLA is cut, the median benefit for African-American single women seniors will dip below the poverty line.

Currently, the median Social Security benefit for a 65-year-old single Black woman is $10, 680, while the median for all single women is $13, 200.

The poverty line for individual seniors is $ 10, 458.

The Huffington Post Reports:

This in itself does not mean that the chained CPI would push many senior African American women into poverty. But according to SSA (Social Security Administration) data nearly half–45.6 percent–of non-married African Americans aged 65 older rely on Social Security for all of their income; 54.1 percent rely on it for 90 percent of their income or more.

Taken together, these two pieces of information–that the median benefit would go below the poverty level for non-married African American women, and that a near-majority of non-married elderly African Americans rely on Social Security for all of their income–lead to the conclusion that the chained CPI would lead to an increase in poverty among elderly African Americans.

Read More At HuffingtonPost.com

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