The letter (Penticton Western News, Aug. 10, There are adequate income supports for seniors) by Deborah Webb — she thinks that seniors are well taken care of and that they often drive vehicles worth $48,000.
Many seniors can’t afford to drive anything and until a few months ago, I myself drove a 30-year-old second-hand care.
Now I have a 17-year-old vehicle, which required a lot of work and new parts (expensive) to make it safer and no, it’s not a luxury, as I live beyond the bus line and can’t walk far.
Yes, we are all well award of GIS, but $18,096 is still below the poverty line and harder to live on when there aren’t two incomes to share expenses.
Subsidized housing doesn’t help seniors living in “senior” houses, which deteriorate and therefore need expensive, extensive repairs.
As for “self-infliction” of an affliction, either mental or physical, that can happen without an addiction.
I have never smoked and still have had asthma all my life; also had cancer, not my choice either.
Further in the health department, once you reach 65, the rate of deterioration accelerates. I get absolutely no coverage for glasses, or teeth; a hearing aid would cost more than my third-hand car.
No one wants to see families suffering, but most seniors are not as well off as Webb thinks.
Joy Lang
Penticton