Do any of you think that your union or corporate retirement plan will cover the difference if Medicare becomes a voucher system?

This is a scheme to relieve corporate America of their retirement obligation to you. They will throw up their hands and say we can't fund it any more.

For those of you who remember the plan to privatize Social Security back in 2003, do you remember hearing anything about matching corporate funds? I don't.

These are twin threats to your standard of living.

The Republicans have proved that they are the greater of two evils.

Originally Posted by Avista

If it is so important to do this, let's start now! I for one don't want to throw my children under the bus with me keeping all the advantages. Would rather take a hit now and give our children more. This just doesn't seem fair to them.

I agree completely.. Our children did not cause this mess.. they should not suffer its consequences.
JJ

Simply put, I do not trust private, profit and bonus-driven insurance companies to provide good and affordable insurance over a long period of time

And you trust the government to do this? The Ryan plan, which is really a warning that in ten years we will do something about this, is like puting all Medicare eligible on Mdicare managed care plans. It may be for profit and/or not for profit. Many seniors are already on them and find them much better and cheaper than straight Medicare.

Look at it this way, these private plans may be run like a public utility. No rate increases, for instance, until the rate commission reviews the financials. Oh, and it is YES for me.

As I have often stated, I am not the sharpest knife in the block. That being said, yes I am on Medicare. NO, I am not in favor of the Ryan plan (as I understand it) or any other plan to do away with it.

Why? As I see it, it is an insurance plan. If not, why do we pay monthly premiums to have it plus monthly premiums to have another insurance plan to supplement it? And, a drug plan.

Can anyone explain to me what, as a senior, I am getting free (entitlement, I believe it's labeled) when we shell out over $500 a month now for this "entitlement"?

Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Rielly, Sean Hannity, FOX News; Corporate America speaks through these people. Corporate America spends millions propping up these talking heads in an effort to convince us that what is not good for us, is.

Tort reform, Social Security privatization, Medicare voucher system, the unions, all are on the corporate hit list.

Why isn't it obvious to everyone that these people want to reverse the New Deal?

What do you think the Democrat's Medicare Plan is? No, you don't know, unless you've been actively trying to find out because it's not publicized to any extent except by certain columnists or conservative websites, as the Democrat's vast liberal media cohorts are burying the reality.

The Republican Congress is trying to come up with a plan to save what we can of Medicare before it's too late. The Democrats, apparently are doing nothing; but that is really not the case.

The Democrat plan is.....are you ready?.......Rationing!!

The loudly deny it, but the truth is that a 15 member "Independent Payment Advisory Board", which will come into existence after the 2012 elections (how convenient) will have unreviewable discretion in setting prices for medical services.

Now, technically, that doesn't prevent doctors from treating patients the way they feel necessary, but the low reimbursement levels will inevitably dry up the pool of doctors willing to take Medicare patients.

So, what does that mean? The Democrats plan is for an unaccountable and centralized bureaucracy with price-control authority for all medical decisions in the same model that has led to the insolvency of the nations in Europe.

People better get educated before jumping to all these knee-jerk conclusions. You're being snookered big-time.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen1.asp

When you get away from all the political rhetoric, the fact that Medicare, as we know it today is unsustainable. Let's look at a person retiring in 2011. This person entered the workforce in 1966. We will presume a starting salary of $8,000 per year and increases of 5% per year. At the time of retirement, this person will have a salary of $71,800 per year and will have been in the top twenty percent of all earners throughout his/her career.

At current rates this person would have paid $39,135 into Medicare that would have accumulated to $95,888 with a 5% rate of return. This amount will provide $7700 per year for twenty years or a total of $154,000 for your expected life of twenty years from age 65. Medicare will spend $11,100 per recipient in FY 2012. Using the same five percent rate of increase the lifetime expenditures will total $367,000.

This person will have received benefits of $213,000 in excess of what was paid in or 238% of the value contributed. This has nothing to do with insurance companies, taxes, wanting to kill granny, etc. All of those are simply BS and a cynical attempt to hide from the truth and lie to the public in order to get one more term in office.

These are the facts – nothing added and nothing taken away. Any plan that does not deal with them will turn the United States into a third world country.

Does this take into account the fact that your employer matches your contribution (?) to SS and Medicare?

Originally Posted by getdul981

Does this take into account the fact that your employer matches your contribution (?) to SS and Medicare?

Yes. It includes the 1.45% you pay and the matching 1.45% your employer pays. In case of the self employed, the person pays 2.9%.

before we start cutting another program for the lower and middle class people can we at least look at the possibility of cutting our militay spending which is more than the rest of the world combined and eliminating the huge tax cuts for the richest 1%?

Originally Posted by waynet

before we start cutting another program for the lower and middle class people can we at least look at the possibility of cutting our militay spending which is more than the rest of the world combined and eliminating the huge tax cuts for the richest 1%?

You're right! That is where we should start.

Originally Posted by BBQMan

When you get away from all the political rhetoric, the fact that Medicare, as we know it today is unsustainable. Let's look at a person retiring in 2011. This person entered the workforce in 1966. We will presume a starting salary of $8,000 per year and increases of 5% per year. At the time of retirement, this person will have a salary of $71,800 per year and will have been in the top twenty percent of all earners throughout his/her career.

At current rates this person would have paid $39,135 into Medicare that would have accumulated to $95,888 with a 5% rate of return. This amount will provide $7700 per year for twenty years or a total of $154,000 for your expected life of twenty years from age 65. Medicare will spend $11,100 per recipient in FY 2012. Using the same five percent rate of increase the lifetime expenditures will total $367,000.

This person will have received benefits of $213,000 in excess of what was paid in or 238% of the value contributed. This has nothing to do with insurance companies, taxes, wanting to kill granny, etc. All of those are simply BS and a cynical attempt to hide from the truth and lie to the public in order to get one more term in office.

These are the facts – nothing added and nothing taken away. Any plan that does not deal with them will turn the United States into a third world country.

Yes! If a business had this type of retirement or healthcare plan, they would be in jail. It is, simply, not actuarially sound.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors, not from any actual profit earned by the organization, but from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors.