To Republicans who think raising the age of retirement will cure the nation's debt crisis

[DainBramaged]

Where will the seniors of our country work? Do you have a job program planned? Just because YOU'LL retire comfortably after a life in politics doesn't mean the rest of us who live paycheck to paycheck can even consider LIFE if we can't afford medicine or a doctor's care while trying to find a menial job our frail bodies can perform. You've allowed corporate America to destroy the pension system, reduce our benefits, and basically cater to the 2%, how much more do you want?


In 3 years I can retire with partial benefits and at least Medicare. My broken and beaten body won't make it much further in the workplace. I can't stand for long periods of time (neither can most seniors). After working since I was SIXTEEN, and many future retirees have the same conditions facing them, to ask that they work longer so your pork barrel salaries can be paid is unconscionable. We deserve a few years of peace before our time comes, but you want to speed that up for political gain.


Fuck you Lindsey Graham and your buddies, fuck you.

[Pachamama]

1. Isnt the average life expectancy 72 years for men, 75 years for women?

So, if I am to get this straight, people work all their lives from as young as 15 years of age paying into the social security system to pay out for an eatimated average of 2-5 years?

Seriously??? WTF?

[1KansasDem]

2. Your numbers are off a little

According to wikipedia, males 75.6, females 80.8.
Makes some difference..

[DainBramaged]

3. Does it really matter?

[bluestate10]

4. Data shows that raising the retirement age to 67 would cost around $6 billion more

per year.

[democrattotheend]

6. Is that for SS or Medicare?

I am working on a paper about why we should not raise the Medicare age. Is this data the statistic about how $5 billion saved for the govt. would cost seniors and the private sector $11 billion?

[TheKentuckian]

8. It is already 67 for many of us, which I find unacceptable and somewhat nuts.

I have zero tolerance for any other talk. They like to pretend they haven't already fucked us over.

[democrattotheend]

5. I'm working on a paper about why we should not raise the Medicare age

For all the reasons you mentioned. I really don't understand why Republicans who claim to be pro business support a proposal that would be so costly to the business community, especially small businesses.

However, one alternative I may explore is delaying Medicare eligibility or making Part A optional with a premium for those who choose to keep working and are covered by an employer-sponsored plan, if the employer has more than 20 employees (in which case the employer is required under the ADEA to maintain that worker's coverage as the primary coverage and Medicare acts as secondary coverage). Workers over 65 who keep working for companies with fewer than 20 employees would be eligible for Medicare at 65, since Medicare acts as primary coverage for those employees and their employers are not subject to the ADEA.

I don't know how much money it would save, since Medicare acts only as secondary coverage in those situations, but it might save a little bit and create an incentive for people to retire, freeing up jobs for younger workers and lowering the cost to employers of providing health insurance by decreasing the average age in the risk pool.

So under my proposal, nobody has to keep working beyond 65 in order to have health insurance, but those who choose to do so will have to wait for Medicare if their employer provides adequate coverage that meets the standards under the ACA.

What do you think of that proposal?

I am also going to explore allowing buy-in at a younger age, but I don't believe doing so would save the system any money, unless you set the premiums above the cost of providing coverage to those who buy in. And doing so would be difficult, because even at cost the buy-in price is estimated to be around $600/mo, which is cheaper than what many people pay on the individual market but still too expensive for a lot of people.

[Jake2413]

7. It's not about the debit crisis

it has never been. This has all been orchestrated, over decades, to eliminate social programs that Republicans have been against since they were signed into law. That's why they don't have a problem increasing debit when they have control. It is so Democrats don't have the leverage to fund current or additional programs. Their end game is to do away with these programs and to get Dems to do it because they can't get away with it.