What I don't get about (some) old people and Medicare

[ArcticFox]

Full disclosure: I'm 34 years old; the prospect of ending Medicare for those under 55 concerns me.

I heard this elderly woman interviewed on NPR say "my generation can't do without medicare; the younger generation has time to make other plans." With all due respect, lady: Shut the F*** up! IF medicare is in trouble (and I seriously doubt it is, but since you assume it is, let me finish this thought), then it is YOUR P.O.S. "Baby Boom" generation that is responsible. And now you're telling me with your dying breath that that's just my tough s***?

This "it won't affect you if you're 55 or older" shit is nothing more than a wedge being driven between my parents' and grandparents' generations and mine. Think about this a moment: if you are 55 or older, it won't affect you if nothing is done. IF medicare runs out of money in 40 years, you'll most likely be dead by then. If you're 55 or older, you've got no skin in this game.

So, Old People please, unless you're going to fight for your children and grandchildren to have the same security in life and old age as you've enjoyed, please just stay out of the debate.

This doesn't concern you.

[Monique1]

1. I am almost 70 years old

and I want you to have what I have. I don't know how to fight any longer. You don't want me to fight for my grandchildren or my adult children, I have a problem with that. Maybe we all should fight together, no one stays out of it. You are pissed off, I know and understand but please don't put all seniors on the same page. That is not fair.

[timtom]

2. +1!!!

(It appears that we are about the same age...)

Frankly, I believe in health care for ALL!!! We have/had the resources to take care of our people, but it has been squandered by demonic forces on campaigns of aggression for the past 60 years,or so.

Instead of death and destruction, America could have enhanced the lives of every one of her people.

I mourn for America. I weep for America. And, now, I am profoundly embarrassed for America.

[ArcticFox]

9. Thank you

I tried to limit my post to "some", not all, and hoped I was clear that I'd love to have you on our side. It's those that want to take away from us what you've had that I was aiming at.

[RebelOne]

35. My thoughts exactly. I am 72 and have Medicare. n/t

[bluestateguy]

3. By and large the folks ages 65-84 are a selfish generation

They are not the teamwork oriented, patriotic and communitarian citizens that you find from the WWII generation (folks over 84).

And no, I am not talking about our DUers who fall into that age bracket.

[Hannah Bell]

20. oh bullshit.

[jtuck004]

22. Exactly, eom

[etherealtruth]

29. WTF?

[Donnachaidh]

34. what a totally hip deep pile of reeking horseshit

*selfish generation* -- yeah, they protested the Vietnam War etc...

Been watching far too many Andy Hardy movies toots. :eyes:

[napi21]

4. I'm 68 and I'm still fighting for medicare to stay! Not only for my kids, but for everyone!

Medicare is in trouble because the greedy insurance companies are gouging everyone and that includes the government when they pay high prices for those on medicare & medicaid. The few dents we pay out of every paycheck has been the same % for as long as I can remember. Everything else has gone up, but people still think just because it's a gov't program, it can continue on with no changes. That's insane! What's he BFD with adding maybe .50 more to the deduction from al paychecks? That small of an amount wouldn't hurt anybody and would fix the problems wiwth the program.

[franzia99]

10. Please also fight for student loan forgiveness, lower tuition, and affordable housing

[Riftaxe]

5. Medicare is the biggest beast around, it sets the prices

truly it does, that means a lot of preventative and reactive care personnel are getting shown to the door. The model that requires payments to private health insurance companies is going to expedite the doom of the care givers by focusing on immediate care.

Pay the campaign contributors and fuck anyone who is not bleeding seems to be the rationale behind it.

[rucky]

6. Get with it, 54 year olds!

[Common Sense Party]

7. Yes, it IS in trouble. Don't think for a moment that it isn't.

There are 77 million boomers just about to retire. They're going to live long lives, and they're going to want expensive medical procedures. The money isn't there. It just isn't. That's where most of the trillions ($40+ T) in "unfunded liabilities" are going to come from and knock us on our butts.

[ArcticFox]

12. Simply removing the cap would solve it

It used to be the rich gave their employees medical insurance. Now that they've stopped doing that in large part, maybe they should pay into medicare for their employees to have health insurance.

[99th_Monkey]

14. +1000

[Lasher]

24. There is no cap on earnings for the Medicare portion of FICA.

There is a cap on Social Security withholding but your OP is about Medicare.

[mysuzuki2]

30. you are right but

the medicare tax only pays for part a of medicare. Part b is paid for by a monthly premium of about 25% of the total cost with the other 75% coming from general revenue. Maybe if the corporations and wealthy paid their fair share of taxes medicare would be in better shape.

[DURHAM D]

27. What cap?

My father died last year at 94. He paid into Medicare until the day he died. They took it from his SS check - just like everyone else.

Also, every employer pays in the same (matches) the employee amount on all wages.

You are right to be angry but wrong about the facts.

[napi21]

33. It's not really the boomers or the 65+ that are hurting the program.

It's those who are medicaid (that's always lumped together with medicare, an those who are very ill and allowed on medicare before they're 65. I sill believe adding a little more to the % we all have paid for medicare & medicaid is the way to go & not abandoning these people. I have a cousin who has been on medicare for seeral years and he'sstill only 62. His medical bills are atrocious! He takes 28 pills each day and if it weren't for Medicare & several other programs, he'd be DEAD! Last year, the manugfacturer of one of the pills he takes was sold and the new owner said they were discontinuing the program where he got those pills for $25.00/month. It was a susidy of the former co. and now he would have to pay $2,000/mo for them! How can ANYONE afford that? His wife persued it very hard wih the new owners and theyfinally gave in and said they'd extend that benefit as a courtesy for ONE MORE YEAR.

[franzia99]

8. Younger ppl need to get vocal about their own issues. Medicare & SS monopolize the debate b/c boomer

s care about it. Not that I want to end either program. But why are we not discussing the trillion dollars in crushing student loan debt that can't be repaid, soaring tuition, and the fact that houses are unaffordable to first time buyers these days?

[99th_Monkey]

11. Divide & Conqour

Seems to be kinda happening, at least in your case.

Please don't buy into it to the point of getting all pissed off at all old people.

I'm 67 y.o. and if it weren't for Medicare & SS I'd be on the street; and I'm
totally opposed to anyone messing with either of them for future generations.

[ArcticFox]

15. I'm trying to say just that

It's a false division, however. Just like all the rest of divisions they throw up: race, class, legal status.

I'm not mad at all old people, just the ones that say "I got mine, the younger generation can figure out how to get theirs," like the lady I heard interviewed on NPR.

[99th_Monkey]

19. I hear yah. You should be pissed about this.

I just wanted to make sure it was directed
at the real source of the problem, and you've
shown me it is.

Hopefully together we can insist with one voice that
they keep their grubby mits off SS and Medicare for good.

[Morning Dew]

13. Unrec for "POS Baby Boom" reference.

Other than that, I'm 54 and kinda pissed about the whole thing.

[pnwmom]

17. True. Very few baby boomers are of Medicare age.

The first baby boomers were born in 1946 and will turn 65 this year.

[Hannah Bell]

23. +100. it's really disturbing to see how many posts these days are attempting to pit one generation

against another, aka taking a page from the republican playbook.

[pnwmom]

16. If you know any elderly people with that attitude, remind them

that the whole reason Medicare exists is because elderly people were suffering and dying without it. We already know there is no good alternative to Medicare -- we tried that and it failed. What we need is to figure out how to lower costs without reducing necessary benefits. (For example, we could save a lot of money if we allowed Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, as they do in Canada.)

[murielm99]

18. Unrec for broadbrush statements and unreasonable

stereotyping.

I don't think you have been reading many DU threads about this issue if you think all elderly people agree with this woman. And you have not been paying attention to the town hall meetings where repubbie Congressmen are getting their asses handed to them by senior citizens who do not want to see their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews hurt by this proposal.

I think you just want to find a way to bitch and moan about baby boomers and to condescend to "old people."

[eilen]

28. I think the younger generations do have a gripe

look at this world they have been left. It was not them who made the decisions and the votes it was those generations older then them. I am 45 and I urge my son to take other languages and plan a year abroad while he is in college. His best bet may be a career overseas. I want him to make relationships somewhere else so he won't be trapped here. I also don't want him in unremitting debt as a young man-- we are paying in full the first 2 years and the next 2-- well, we may have to borrow to pay for them but don't want him burdened with the entire bill. He will still have to work for his incidentals, for car insurance and other auto costs (if he chooses to drive) as well as living expenses --when he is not at home. As his parents, we feel it is our duty to send him into the world prepared.

Those assholes who voted for Reagan.... well, this is what they have wrought economically.
The Bush people--thank them for the permawar.

[murielm99]

32. Every generation blames the generation that preceded

them. I can remember boomers griping about their parents and the mess they were inheriting from those parents.

I remember this famous statement, "Don't trust anyone over thirty."

It is too bad that some younger people have to paint with a broad brush instead of thinking of ways for all of us to work together against the greedy corporations and rich repubbies.

[tsuki]

21. Have you thought that NPR is making a propaganda run? I

expect a lot of this.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

25. Your broadbrush freakout is due to one woman on the radio?

:*

[HockeyMom]

26. There has to be a safety net in place

for EVERYONE because you never know what will happen to you down the road. I am speaking to my children and future grandkids generation. Never, say never. My husband and I could never have known 40 years ago that his college education in IT would mean almost nothing because business decided to offshore these jobs to India. We aren't soothsayers. Today, however, is another matter. We can see the writing on the wall for public education as one example. My 27 year old daughter has already quit teaching. My son-in-law is considering it. What will they do? Who knows? What field is safe for their future? They have put off having children because of this.

This all ties into Social Security and Medicare. Life in the USA has become very, very precarious for the younger generation. If the younger generation cannot find good paying jobs in the US, saving for their old age will become moot. It scares me, but I feel unless this is addressed by the younger generation, we will become a Third World nation of only the very rich and the very poor.

I don't worry so much for my generation. We don't have much time left. I fear more for my children.

[mysuzuki2]

31. bottom line here

we cannot afford to take care of our citizens, Soc Sec, medicare , education etc and at the same time support our enormous, bloated military budget. We will have to choose. And I know which one I would choose. I believe the entire budget and financial crisis comes down to the fact that we are paying far more for defence than we reasonably need to. Fix that and the rest will be much more managable.