Retirees choosing between food and medication — Skelton

Territorial At-Large Representative Ronnie Skelton has sounded the alarm about the economic hardship facing many Virgin Islands retirees, stating that some seniors are being forced to choose between food and vital medication due to stagnant pensions and rising living costs.

Skelton made the statement during a recent episode of NDP Radio, where he and fellow National Democratic Party members addressed ongoing socio-economic issues in the territory.

Skelton explained that the cost of living is outpacing what pensioners are receiving, and that rising food prices and out-of-pocket costs for medication are severely straining the finances of elderly persons—especially when government-supplied prescriptions are unavailable at public facilities.

“There’s something that is bothering me in terms of the retirees,” Skelton stated. “They have to make decisions whether they must buy their medication or eat food,” the Opposition legislator stated.

Skelton claimed that the issue is compounded by the perception that there’s no solution “in the pipeline” to adjust pension payments to account for inflation or cost-of-living increases.

Eighth District Representative Marlon Penn echoed Skelton’s concerns and said the government’s current approach to social support has become bogged down in red tape.

“The reality is that it is too bureaucratic. The process takes too long to get support to individuals and by the time the support gets to individuals, the people are frustrated, they’ve given up,” he stated.

A caller to the programme recounted a conversation with a disabled, elderly woman who said she avoided applying for assistance again because of how long it took to get help the first time. Penn responded by saying elected officials had previously been given stipends to assist residents directly, but these were removed after the Commission of Inquiry (COI) reforms.

Skelton criticised this change, saying that while the system wasn’t perfect, it had allowed for faster, more responsive assistance. “What people do, they look at the bad part of everything. The good that these systems were doing, they just scrap them,” he argued.

He called for the government to make urgent policy changes to strengthen social support, improve pension systems, and ensure retirees are not left behind. “We need to look at a lot of this stuff in a holistic way and get the help to the people that need it,” Skelton stated.