The Sacramento Bee, August 7, 2009 —  A new study finds that poverty rates among older households lacking pension income are about six times greater than those with such income.

Key findings in the Pension Factor indicate that pension receipt among older American households in 2006 was associated with:

• 1.72 million fewer poor households and 2.97 million fewer near-poor households
• 560,000 fewer households experiencing a food hardship
• 380,000 fewer households experiencing a shelter hardship
• 320,000 fewer households experiencing a health care hardship
• 1.35 million fewer households receiving means-tested public assistance
• $7.3 billion in public assistance expenditures savings, representing about 8.5 percent of aggregate public assistance dollars received by all American households for the same benefit programs

Read more here.