[The link below is to “Reclaiming Our Fiscal Future: Fiscal Year 2022 Budget,” produced by the Republican Study Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and signed by the ten congressmen on the committee. See the chapter on Social Security (p. 98) and also the chapter on Medicare.]
What do you think? Do you agree?
Depending on one’s state, people aged 65 are statistically likely to live between 17 and 21 more years: to between 82 and 86. When Social Security was started, the average life expectancy was around 65, so most people who lived to collect any Social Security at all died within a few years. Because that has changed, Social Security has become increasingly expensive. But you know that.
The current age to receive full Social Security is now 67. The current age to receive Medicare is now 65. The Republican Study Committee recommends that the age for full retirement be raised to 70 over the next 12 years. I don’t know if there would be a change in minimum age up from 62, but I assume that people retiring at 62 would get an even smaller percentage of the full SS retirement benefit. The Republican Study Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives also recommends that the age for receiving Medicare benefits be raised to 67 now and rise along with the age for full SS to 70 in 12 years, in 2034. This responsible set of rule changes, they say, would keep Medicare and Social Security funded.
Again, do you agree? I’m 68, and I retired at 66, which was then the age for full SS. I first used Medicare at 67. Since then I’ve had two major surgeries, and Medicare and my supplemental policy have paid all of it. I’m very grateful. Thank you, all you taxpayers. I have mine! You have yours! Our big concern is to not get less. Maybe we shouldn’t worry about those ten years younger. But I know this: I had employer-provided health care until I retired. Could I have worked as a professor until I was seventy? Cushy job. Maybe. But if I were to retire at 66 and have to pay many thousands a year for COBRA health insurance, I’d really be hurting. Won’t these future retirees feel the same?
Please excuse me, but I’m going to speak here exclusively about European-Americans. (We all know that life expectancy is lower for African-Americans and Hispanics and American Indians, and some people assume that they make up most of the poor.) Among both Republicans and Democrats there are millions and millions and millions of European-Americans who are called Middle Class by politicians, but they aren’t. They are Working Class, and the Working Class includes at the top tradesmen who own their own companies and some people who make cars and drive trains and such who earn more than I ever did. But it also includes millions who are the Working Poor and millions who are poor and unemployed and barely making it, skipping insurance payments, putting off medical care. Most of these people have only a high school diploma or less. Many of them are laborers or work so hard that they are exhausted. (Lots of them are Republicans, reader!) Their hands wear out. Their knees wear out. Their hips wear out. Diabetes and heart disease take their toll. Many of you are 80 and still playing golf and dancing every day. You won the jackpot. But there are many millions who are counting the days to 62 because their bodies are just worn out. They’ll retire and maybe do without health insurance until they are Medicare age. Can they hold out until they are 70? Thousands here in The Villages are getting by on their Social Security checks and worrying how to pay an amenity fee that goes up a few dollars a month. What if their younger siblings have to carry on a few more years and die before 70?
I’d like your thoughts on this, and I’ll give my solution in my next post, below.
https://banks.house.gov/uploadedfile...fy22_final.pdf