Think of yourself in your early 20s-young, energetic, maybe a little naïve in some ways. All it takes is a look into one’s old closet or record collection to realize that. But one thing we all have in common is the belief that when we entered our careers, worked hard, paid taxes, that our investment in our future would pay off. Our health care costs would be taken care of because we faithfully paid into Medicare for 30, 40, 50 years. It’s a good thing our 20-something self didn’t hear the current discussion of raising the Medicare age to solve Washington’s budget woes.
Pushing seniors off the Medicare rolls sounds like a good idea, but it’s not. Sure, we live longer and, in many cases, healthier than past generations, but balancing the budgets on the backs of seniors not only breaks the budget, it breaks the promise government made to us decades ago.
Experts such as the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the New York Times’ Paul Krugman, and others have shown that kicking out 65 and 66-year-olds from Medicare rolls saves government about $5.7 billion. They also point out that this moves the cost of covering those seniors to state Medicaid programs, private employers, and seniors themselves to the cost of $11.4 billion. For each dollar Washington saves, it costs everybody else $2 while also scaring some needy seniors who must now desperately search for health care coverage.
For hardworking Americans such as nurses, it also builds the burden that they know they carry. It pushes the golden age that much further, especially for nurses who expect the health care system will take care of them just as they’ve taken care of so many patients.
President Obama is not a fan of raising the Medicare age to 67, but he hasn’t ruled it out either, as he negotiates a solution to the fiscal cliff. Fellow Democrats, such as Senator Al Franken, need to hear from nurses and constituents that pushing retirement and Medicare further down the road hurts all Americans, but especially those who had faith they’d be cared for at age 65.
Contact Senator Al Franken TODAY and tell him to oppose raising the Medicare eligibility age. Call (202) 224-5641 or email: http://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=email_al