It is worth noting that while people under age 65
in the U.S. live
in a
heavily market - dominated economy where poor employment outcomes mean poverty and a lack of access to health care, almost everyone over age 65 has most of their healthcare paid for by Medicare, (a FICA tax financed,
single payer system that pays providers more or less the same rates as private insurance
companies and has few cost controls), more than half of their nursing home costs paid by Medicaid, (which is stingy
in how much it pays providers and moderately means tested), and receives enough of a guaranteed income from the combination of Social Security and SSI payments to keep the poverty rate for people age 65 +, (even if they have no retirement savings of their own), above the poverty line, regardless of the state of the local economy.
As for Google, it was a time to make amends for the mistake done
in 2014 where the
company only unveiled a
single Nexus phone that was also priced
heavily, despite packing some of the best hardware specs.