I wish economists would spend some time in the real world. Between her pension and SS my mother is technically not “in poverty.” But this month she’s in the “doughnut hole” for medication expenses, so guess what? Her housing and food expenses come first, so no med refills until after New Years (or beyond) unless I can find the money for them.
She’s too rich for subsidized housing and too poor to afford care and too proud to turn everything, including herself, over to the government. That may change, though, now that her former employer is discontinuing her retiree medical benefits. At some point she may become my tax exemption.

I faced a similar situation with my mother several years ago.  May I suggest you visit Walgreens and sign your mother up for their medicine membership program.  We found that the aggregate costs of my mother’s medicines in this program were as good, if not better, than with medicare!  As I recall there is a yearly $20 membership fee.  If you take your mother’s list of medications to a Walgreens pharmacy, they will tell you what you will save with their program.

Thank you for the idea. I’m just grumbling about the good old days when insurance covered the costs and when one retired one was set until death.

Unfortunately, insurance companies don’t agree with you anymore.