Free Republic

Employer retiree health care coverage, which has been deteriorating for years amid high health care costs and waning employer interest, is headed for bigger changes thanks to the Affordable Care Act, a new study shows. More than 40 percent of employers have eliminated their traditional group health coverage for retirees over the age of 65 in favor of giving these former employees a defined amount of money for them to buy their coverage on the individual Medicare plan market, according to a new survey of more than 540 companies by employee benefits consulting firm Aon Hewitt (AON). For most of...

A must-post. Not a must-comment. video only at linky!

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article. The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it. At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen for almost the next 20 years. The number of senior citizens in America is projected to more than double during the first half of this century, and some absolutely enormous financial promises...

(Newsday) Fox News host Geraldo Rivera tweeted, then deleted, a nearly-naked self photo on Sunday morning in an online faux pas amazingly similar to the scandal that engulfed former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Thankfully, the photo did not feature the 70-year-old anchor’s, erm, parts. “70 is the new 50 (Erica and family are going to be so pissed … but at my age … )” the host of “Geraldo At Large” wrote in his early morning tweet, attaching a shirtless, self-shot photo of him wearing his signature red glasses and a towel that’s a bit too low for comfort. After...

The big benefit to moving workers into the state marketplaces is that it shifts the burden of paying for health care from the city to the federal government. That’s a benefit for the city, at least. For the federal government, more cities moving retirees into the marketplaces means a higher price tag for Obamacare, as it subsidizes more individuals’ coverage.

Some uniquely American humor for a Sunday evening. Enjoy!

Some things you just can't unsee. Fox News contributor Geraldo Rivera took a break from tweeting about the week's biggest news stories early Sunday morning to share a more personal tweet — a nude selfie.

We know the AARP is typically left-leaning and sided with the Obama Administration on Obamacare and other policies that will wind up hurting seniors. But now it seems they’re siding with the far-left environmental movement to put people out of work and raise energy prices — something that has a direct effect on seniors with fixed incomes. The AARP and Sierra Club worked together to stall nuclear energy legislation in Iowa. They claimed the legislation would hurt seniors when, in reality, the legislation would have incentivized low cost nuclear energy production in Iowa. The AARP joined with the Sierra Club...

I'm Sick and Tired, and you should care.. REALLY! Why you should care, is that I am a member of that generation of folks that remembers what our Country was before the 60's radicals began destroying our country, culture, and future.. I am indeed sick, but still strong enough to muster the revolting reaction to the state of our National decline..I can't say I haven't warned everyone that would listen to me, to react to the changes that have taken us down this road, sadly without much reaction from those that had to suffer my diatribes.. There aren't many of...

Last spring, Frank Turkaly tried to kill himself. A retiree in a Pittsburgh suburb living on disability checks, he was estranged from friends and family, mired in credit card debt and taking medication for depression, cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure.

It's High Time America Did Away With Senior Discounts Alex Mayyasi, Priceonomics Blog May 29, 2013, 10:44 AM You’ve seen them on the bus, in museums, and at movie theaters: senior discounts. As a reward for being old, senior citizens pay a quarter less for bus fare, a small fortune less for movie tickets, and receive discounts generally all over the place. If you’re a twentysomething, or part of what some journalists have colorfully called “the screwed generation,” you may be wondering: why not me? The idea that seniors are a group in need of help and protection dates back...

With Congress increasingly unable to resolve budget disputes, federal programs on automatic pilot are consuming ever larger amounts of government resources. The trend helps older Americans, who receive the bulk of Social Security and Medicare benefits, at the expense of younger people. This generational shift draws modest public debate. But it alarms some policy advocates, who say the United States is reducing vital investments in the future. Because Democrats and Republicans can't reach a grand bargain on deficit spending — with mutually accepted spending cuts and revenue hikes — Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid keep growing, largely untouched. Steady expansions...

Medicare Already Means-Tested, Retirement Expert Says 01 May 2013 The Obama administration's controversial proposal to "means-test" Medicare recipients is ostensibly aimed at generating more cash for the government from those who can afford it - or squeezing more money out of upper-income seniors, depending upon one's point of view. But according to a University of Illinois expert on retirement benefits, the Medicare program is already means-tested. Law professor Richard L. Kaplan says whenever the issue of cutting Medicare emerges, one of the first ideas to "fix" the program is to make its upper-income beneficiaries pay more. "Indeed, the claim is...

2014 retirements: Dems heading for the hills By: Alexander Burns April 23, 2013 04:49 PM EDT Doesn’t anyone want to run for Senate in 2014? Midway through candidate recruitment season, the bad news for Democrats is this: They are watching a generation of talent leave the Senate and head for retirement. The less-bad news: So far, few marquee-name Republicans are interested in these seats either. When Montana Sen. Max Baucus called it quits on Tuesday, he became the latest in a long series of senior legislators to announce that they’ve had quite enough of life on the Hill. National Democrats...

Martin Smith, an Emmy-winning correspondent for PBS’ Frontline, is worried about his retirement — and yours. In his excellent Frontline documentary airing Tuesday, April 23, on PBS, The Retirement Gamble (check local listings), Smith, 64, says: “I started saving for my retirement in my late 20s. But along the way I dipped into my nest egg … not once, but several times. And now, like millions of other baby boomers, I, too, don’t have enough. Most of my savings went to pay for my kids’ educations. A divorce and the crash of 2008 didn’t help either. I’m now planning to...

If you think it’s hard saving for retirement as a couple, trying doing it as a single. According to a study—described by one expert as the most intriguing of 2012—the amount of money singles in their late 60s have saved up for retirement is dramatically less than that of married-couple households. In fact, the median married household had in 2008 nearly 10 times more saved up for retirement than the median single-person household, $111,600 vs. $12,500. (Savings, for the record, included 401(k)s and IRAs and all taxable savings and investment accounts, but it did not include Social Security, pensions, or...

If you watch daytime TV or have been stuck watching daytime TV while visiting your parents, surely you’re familiar with The Scooter Store. The power wheelchair vendor has had some trouble lately, including accusations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud, a raid by the FBI, and even a lawsuit from the company’s hometown, of New Braunfels, Texas. The company laid off most of its employees, and plans to deal directly with health care providers, rather than blanketing the airwaves and selling directly to consumers. Those investigations came after a scathing investigative piece by CBS News about the company. (Warning: the video...

A growing number of House Democrats are concerned that President Obama's proposal to cut Social Security benefits will haunt the party at the polls in 2014. Although Democrats have long-championed the retirement program, they say Obama's plan to reduce payments for future beneficiaries through a chained consumer price index (CPI) has weakened their stance and opened the door for Republicans to vilify the president. The leader of the campaign arm for House Republicans, Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), on Wednesday called Obama’s plan a "shocking attack on seniors." Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign...

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) today launched JobSource, a new online portal to help older adults assess their work skills, identify job training opportunities, and find employment. Last month, 1.8 million adults aged 55+ were actively seeking employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nearly half of older workers looking for jobs have been without employment for over a year. “For many older Americans, employment is necessary to remain financially secure, healthy, and independent,” said Nora Dowd Eisenhower, senior vice president of economic security at NCOA. “But as industries and workplaces evolve, it is vital that older adults...

During a forum on gun control in Colorado hosted by The Denver Post, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) mocked the concerns of a senior citizen who said that his impairments would put him at a significant disadvantage in a firefight under the state’s new gun laws. She drew laughs from the crowd when she reminded the questioner that he can take advantage of the Denver Police Department’s services. She added that, in the hypothetical situation the questioner described, “you’d probably be dead anyway.” At the Tuesday night forum, the elderly questioner described his unique circumstances and asked DeGette about how he...