PBS Democratic Debate: Live Coverage

Officially, 4.6 million American seniors were living in poverty in 2014; the senior poverty rate was 10 percent, lower than the 14.8 percent figure for Americans as a whole. But those numbers understate the level of poverty among seniors. The official definition of poverty is decades old and underestimates the cost of health care and other major expenses for seniors. Under an alternative definition of poverty that most economists consider superior, the poverty rate for seniors was 14.4 percent in 2014.

This conversation on meeting the basic needs of seniors is happening on Clinton’s turf — voters 65 and older were the only age group she won in New Hampshire, and they’ve made up a disproportionately large share of the audience for previous debates, both Democratic and Republican.