I want to see Bernie make an issue of this: No Social Security COLA and 50% hike in Medicare.......

[LongTomH]

....premiums in 2016.

Millions Face a 50% Medicare Premium Hike If Congress and Obama Don't Act:

Under mounting pressure from seniors and labor groups, congressional leaders and the Obama administration are rushing to find a way to avert a huge Medicare premium increase of 50 percent or more for nearly a third of the 50 million elderly Americans who are reliant on Medicare for their physician care and other health services.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and White House officials have been scrambling behind the scenes to spare millions of seniors the expense of huge Medicare Part B premium hikes. While the problem pales in comparison to the larger budget issues, including highway spending and debt ceiling challenges, lawmakers are super sensitive to the concerns of seniors heading into the crucial 2016 election year.

“Congress has a responsibility to act,” Pelosi said in a statement this week. “If we do nothing, millions of American seniors will suffer. Democrats continue to press the Republican leadership to bring a fix to the floor so we can prevent the serious harm this increase will have on states and low-income seniors across the country.”

Some 70 national organizations, including AARP, labor groups and health insurance company trade associations, sent a letter to Republican and Democratic congressional leaders last week urging prompt action to block or mitigate the looming premium increases. “Older adults and people with disabilities cannot shoulder these unprecedented increases,” Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, told The New York Times.

Oh, and about that "No COLA" bit:

The pending sharp premium increase, reported in August by The Fiscal Times, was prompted by a strange twist in the law that effectively penalizes wealthier beneficiaries and others any time the Social Security Administration fails to approve an annual cost of living adjustment. This will be only the third time since 1975 that Social Security will not increase the cost of living benefit, simply because the Consumer Price Index used by the government has remained relatively flat.

Bernie has got to speak out on this travesty!

[Human101948]

1. Simple fix...just drop a few of the useless weapons that are actually boondoggles...

http://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-five-most-overrated-weapons-war-10957

Enough money saved to fund Medicare for decades to come.

[yeoman6987]

2. Different pile of money

SS comes out of SS check we donate (yes donate) every paycheck. Medicare is the same thing that we contribute every payday. We should not use the general fund to use for SS and Medicare. Raise the cap to $250K and don't worry about anything for 50 years. Seems so easy.

[Human101948]

3. Can be done either way...

But the Defense Department has been living off our SS contributions since Reagan and Greenspan scammed us back in the 1980s when they increased our withholding to "save Social Security.".

[yeoman6987]

4. Well 80's were a long time ago with two democratic presidents since

We act like reagans 8 years were so productive that nothing since could be changed. Such nonsense.

[Human101948]

5. Well, Clinton apparently didn't want to touch the issue and Obama was hamstrung...

by Democrats like Joe Lieberman.

Certainly no one wanted to offend the one percenters by making them pay a few shekels more.

[swilton]

6. I can easily see the Democrats

folding on/ignoring this issue so that they can blame it on the Republicans.