After losing his work, 63-year-old Hayward resident Roque Centeno was concerned about his money. Centeno stopped going to the dentist and taking several prescriptions in 2023 to pay for petrol.
He stated eggs and veggies were pricey. “I’m running out of savings.”
Centeno’s company.
While inflation pressures are starting to subside nationwide, the depletion of pandemic-era food assistance programs and California’s yawning income disparity ensure its grip is still felt, especially by lower-income households in one of the least affordable places in the U.S.
Bay Area residents spend $4,400 more on food, health care, and transportation due to inflation and high living costs. According to MIT’s living wage calculation, California’s minimum pay of $15.50 is $11.13 below liveable.
“That estimate doesn’t even cover Christmas presents—just basic necessities,” said UC Berkeley Food Labor Research Center director Saru Jayaraman. “We’re so far out.”
After five years with San Francisco energy provider McMillan Communications, Centeno lost his job laying wires and imagined he would find another employment and save enough to retire at 65. He never heard back from a general maintenance job. His union kept telling him there was no job.
Centeno was pre-diabetic and had headaches, arthritis, vertigo, and sciatica. Centeno realized he was in trouble when he retired three years early with little 401(k) money. If he was careful and prioritized his health, he would be OK. Inflation hampered them.
Oakland physician Gerard Jenkins says Centeno isn’t alone in making severe compromises due to high prices. Jenkins, the Native American Health Center’s principal medical officer, has treated low-income patients for almost three years.
He said inflation raised prices. “That’s strained low-income and socially disenfranchised.”
The Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco nonprofit health center serves 13,000 people. Jenkins claims 25% of his patients have had to choose between food and blood pressure medicine since November because price inflation.
“Those are daily decisions our patients have to make,” he added. “Medications may not be a priority.”
In February, a patient requested Jenkins to pay their co-pay, highlighting the effects of inflation, rising expenses of living, and the complexities of the health care system. In January, a heart failure, hypertension, and diabetes patient informed Jenkins she wouldn’t take her prescriptions.
“She stated, plainly, ‘Things are so costly and I have to make terrible choices,’” Jenkins recounted.
Jenkins claims Medicaid does not cover all insulin and other drugs. Paying out-of-pocket is difficult for fixed-income folks. Assistance is too.
“Because the system is so convoluted, many people don’t know what they qualify for,” he added.
Centeno didn’t realize his health problems covered his meds and dentist visits.
Jenkins says he educates his patients and connects them to options, but he wishes he had a “magic wand” to solve financial difficulties.
In 2021, the Public Policy Institute of California found that California has the fourth-largest income difference in the nation. In the 1980s, state high-income households earned seven times low-income families. By 2021, that number was 11 times low-income households.
Low-income families lost 7% of their income between 2019 and 2021, even if income inequality was shrinking. Meanwhile, top earnings rose 6%.
Sarah Bohn, the Public Policy Institute of California’s vice president of research and an economist, says this unpleasant reality for low-income people—made worse by inflation—doesn’t surprise her.
Bohn claimed prices are 20% higher than in 2019. “Huge increase.”
PPIC surveyed Californians in February on financial difficulty. 61% agreed.
Between January 2020 and February 2023, petrol costs rose 26%, food and beverage prices 21%, and medical care 7.6%. She believes people are having to make trade-offs.
“Balancing out this increased expense of eggs or medical care when you’re already paying a significant amount of your resources on your house is considerably harder in California,” Bohn said.
On Sunday, CalFresh ended Emergency Allotments and Pandemic-EBT, making it tougher for beneficiaries like Centeno. The California Association of Food Banks termed the $82 monthly loss for the 5 million CalFresh recipients “dramatic and immediate.”
“Way sooner than I wanted,” Centeno told The Chronicle, “because I believed I would still be working.”
Centeno claims fresh vegetables has improved his health.
Centeno’s doctor introduced him to Recipe4Health, Alameda County’s food insecurity and chronic illness project, last year. Recipe4Health offers fresh fruit and healthy eating discussions. Centeno eats more veggies, less bread, and no sugar in his coffee since joining.
“Disgusting,” he remarked. “But you must cut it—you must.”
Centeno is no longer prediabetic after eight months in the program, but retirement still worries him.
“I imagined once I retired I would have enough money to go out to dine periodically or attend to a concert like regular people do,” he added. “But I won’t have additional money to spend.”