Posted on 02/14/2008 6:23:32 AM PST by jdm
USA Today reports that spending on senior entitlements has risen 24% after adjusting for inflation since 2000. Despite no increase in the population percentage receiving benefits, the actual dollars spent on senior benefits in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security rose from $600 billion to $952 billion. Senior care has now become Job 1 of the federal government:
The cost of government benefits for seniors soared to a record $27,289 per senior in 2007, according to a USA TODAY analysis.
That's a 24% increase above the inflation rate since 2000. Medical costs are the biggest reason. Last year, for the first time, health care and nursing homes cost the government more than Social Security payments for seniors age 65 and older. The average Social Security benefit per senior in 2007 was $13,184. ...
The federal government spent $952 billion in 2007 on elderly benefits, up from $601 billion in 2000. It's the biggest function of the federal government. States chipped in another $27 billion in 2007, mostly for nursing homes.
George Bush tried tackling the easiest and least expensive of the three major entitlement programs in 2005. Congress rebuffed him, ostensibly because he proposed private-sector solutions and reforms, but mostly because they wanted to avoid the political consequences of facing the coming disaster. Instead of going away, however, it now appears to be growing almost exponentially.
It will only get worse. In three years, the first of the 79 million baby-boomers will begin to retire at 65. The senior population will start increasing dramatically from that point forward, both in terms of percentage and in real numbers, and fewer workers will remain in the system to support their benefits.
In short, we're looking at a mild form of the problem Europe faces now, and it will get worse quickly.
Meaningful reform should have already been in place by now. 2011 was a fairly easy deadline to calculate, and yet we still have politicians in DC that say there's no cause for immediate concern. Those few who offer solutions mostly base them on extending government responsibility, either through insurance mandates or single-payer solutions that will be akin to pouring gasoline on an inferno.
Senior care should not be Job 1 of the federal government. We need to rethink the entire models of entitlements, and we need to start that process now.
We have to start means testing. My parents are 85 and 87, have more money in the bank than any of their children and a house that is paid for, and yet they are getting Medicare and Social Security. They have received far more in benefits than what my dad paid in before he retired. Medicare should be abolished and only Medicaid available to seniors who cannot afford private health insurance.
One solution I rarely see mentioned is encouraging seniors to work. I’m approaching 70 and you couldn’t pay me to give up my work, I like it too much.
Able-bodied people should not spend from 65-85 sitting alone at home getting depressed.
Since it’s mostly women, maybe they can do childcare for their own grandkids, get paid and be part of the contributing economy.
Another is to encourage in-home care for granny by family members. Some type of compensation for the family caretaker would be needed, but less than for nursing homes or hired help.
Same situation with my in-laws before they passed away. They moved to this country when my FIL was 50 (got green cards.) He worked till he was 65, then retired and lived to be 93. He collected SS and was on Medicare, as was my MIL. They had money in the bank, yet the government paid thousands and thousands of dollars for their SS and healthcare and they only paid into the system for a relatively short time (compared to most Americans.) Also, they received old age pensions from Canada, and I’m sure there are plenty others who are doing exactly the same thing.
You can’t abolish what seniors paid into all their working lives.
You can phase it out, gradually.
Bite your tongue! I worked for sixty years and I’m not going to work any more, dammit. Stop assuming everyone wants to work ‘till they drop in their tracks. My great grandpa was found dead behind a mule, at eighty seven. You think that’s a good thing? You must be out of your mind.
Thank you for a common sense solution. My husband and I have paid into the system since 1963 - and that's a lot of money, and I would like to get it back before I die.
Carolyn
Dig em’ up! I’m certain we can find some way to make them pay for the free ride they got while alive.
1. Engage in an orchestrated long-term strategy to under-report currency inflation in the U.S., thereby reducing the "real" growth of entitlement spending even as people are provided cost-of-living increases that supposedly protect them from inflation.
2. Tie the U.S. currency to that of a large foreign country where workers are paid near-slave wages (by U.S. standards) and where Third World environmental/legal standards prevail. This enables U.S. consumers to effectively prop up their standard of living even as the U.S. dollar declines against other world currencies and U.S. workers pay an ever-increasing tax burden to support these massive entitlement programs.
I see means testing for Medicare/SS and wealth surcharges on 401k withdrawals in addition to inflation creep.
Consider how the pols have worked the deal where less than half the working public pay income tax anymore.
A similar approach to retirees should be politically feasible, although certainly unjust.
I think you missed the word “encouraging” in my post.
No one should be forced to work at heavy physical labor beyond a reasonable time. Both of my parents changed work, my mother at 55 and my dad at 65.
My work involves a fair amount of physical effort and I’m already exploring with my employer ways of modifying the job so I can continue past 75 when there’s a reasonable possiblility that I won’t be able to keep up.
Looking on the (sort of) bright side, entitlement can’t continue forever. The end game is an empty treasury. At some point, benefits will be reduced. They might not get reduced as much as we might like, but reduced they will be.
Envious, are you, that some have saved in their 401k ?
They also need to stop giving generous pensions and other retirement benefits to government workers after 25 years.
Medicare B is already partially means tested, i.e., different premium levels depending upon household income.
The proper way to look at that is to compare what he would be receiving had he wisely invested the money he paid to SS or if SS had wisely invested it for him. To simply say he put X in and is now getting X+ distorts the picture even if true.
SS is definitely a scam, a leftist government scam, and the pols spend the money as soon as they get it. The problem approaching is that there will be no extra money for pork, it will all have to go to recipients.
I also wonder about the percentage of SS that goes to younger people for "disability". I suspect it is much higher than the public knows.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
You can phase it out, gradually.
Why not? Governments exist to lie, steal, break things, and kill people.
People knew social security was a ponzi scheme for decades, yet did nothing about it.
There will come a point where the marks will get tired of footing the bill.
“I would like to get it back before I die.”
I sincerely hope you have such a long life.
>>>Senior care should not be Job 1 of the federal government. We need to rethink the entire models of entitlements, and we need to start that process now.<<<
Let me be the snotty parent here and point out the Constitution LIMITS government, and this is just one of dozens of consequences which are taking place after allowing the government to exceed its authority.
I’m going to be a senior myself in a few years, but I can’t find anything in the Constitution addressing seniors, building Little League fields, medical care, helping teenage girls cross their legs on a date, giving me a check to help my mortgage crisis, telling me what to teach high school students, or any of the other thousands of little things that the government does which are not specifically enumerated powers.
It makes sense that the system will eventually break. If it breaks when I’m in my 70s and 80s, I’ll be pissed, but I’ll also tell anyone who listens that it was inevitable.
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