ORIENT: Boomers to Congress: Let’s make a deal – Washington Times.
Both Social Security and Medicare are Social Insurance programs. Which means they are there so that all Americans that pay into them. Are guaranteed they’ll have at least some Retirement Income as well as Health Insurance. Once they retire and had they been designed, so that only the people. Who need them, would be eligible for them. Meaning that people who don’t have enough savings of their own. Like a Individual Retirement Account, IRA or a Pension Plan. From their employer, or their Retirement Income is not big enough. To support them once they retire, would be eligible for Social Security. Or people who can’t afford to cover their share of their Healthcare once they retire. Would be able to collect Medicare but everyone else. Would still be able to collect Medicare but have to cover their costs. As if they were paying for Private Health Insurance. You design these programs this way, they are reformed indefinitely.
Medicare at least as far as I’m concern, should be part of broader Healthcare Reform. I was for the Public Option in the last Healthcare Reform debate of 2009-10. That produced the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare”. And that Public Option should be Medicare, Senior Citizens who need Medicare. Would still get it if they want it, the way its traditionally done. But the rest of the population including current workers. People who aren’t Senior Citizens yet, would also be eligible for Medicare. But they would have to pay into it. Like they would for Private Health Insurance and Senior Citizens would also have a choice. Collect Medicare or be able to use the funds they would’ve received for Medicare. To pay for Private Health Insurance or set up a Health Savings Account. Giving Senior Citizens options in how they cover their Health Insurance.
As far as Social Security, the fact is we have millions of Senior Citizens. Who are dependent on Social Security as their only Retirement Income. As well as having Senior Citizens who only have Social Security. But that alone doesn’t pay their bills, who are still healthy enough to work. And work Part Time jobs to pay their bills. To me at least thats a problem, we still have too many Senior Citizens living in poverty. So what we need to do going forward, is to empower all American Workers. To set up their own Individual Retirement Accounts and we can do this through Social Security. And this would be optional, the base of Social Security would still be there. But something called Social Security Plus would be added on. People would be able to pay more into Social Security, which would be matched by their employer. And this money would be put into their IRA.
Medicare and Social Security can both be solved and both need to be solved. And we should do this by empowering everyone to take more responsibility. With their own Healthcare and pension, by giving people options in. How they finance it as long as they finance them.
