Why We Can't Raise the Social Security Eligibility Age

[JDPriestly]

According to our very own U.S. Department of Commerce, about one half of Americans over the age of 65 have disabilities. Here's the quote and the link on this.

What Constitutes a Disability

A PERSON IS CONSIDERED to have a disability if he or she has difficulty performing certain functions (seeing, hearing, talking, walking, climbing stairs and lifting and carrying), or has difficulty performing activities of daily living, or has difficulty with certain social roles (doing school work for children, working at a job and around the house for adults). A person who is unable to perform one or more activities, or who uses an assistive device to get around, or who needs assistance from another person to perform basic activities is considered to have a severe disability.

. . . .

Disability is no respecter of age, sex or race. Even among children ages 6 to 14, for instance, about 1 in 8 had some type of disability. Nevertheless, the
likelihood of having a disability increases with age — half of seniors 65 years old and older have a disability. (See figure.)

Although age is the main factor affecting the likelihood of having a disability, there also are differences by race and ethnicity. For example, within
the 55- to 64-year-old group, the proportion with a severe disability was 20 percent among Whites not of Hispanic origin, 35 percent among Blacks and 28 percent among people of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race).
. . . .

http://www.census.gov/prod/3/97pubs/cenbr975.pdf

I have worked with elderly people who are deaf. They don't last long, yet many of us over 65 have hearing loss that interferes with our ability to follow speech that is rapid or muffled, conversations in a group when there is background noise (think of most restaurants at lunchtime) or voices through a wall.

Then there is vision. It is almost taken for granted that at around age 45, you need reading glasses. Some don't, but many of us do.

Most important, as you age, it takes a little longer to recall things. This is very annoying to young people when they work with older people. But what young people don't know is that many older people feel very embarrassed and defensive about this. Our memories do not work as quickly as they did when we were younger, but that does not mean that they are not working. Recall just takes us longer.

So, increasing the age at which we can take Social Security should not even be considered.

And we should not compare ourselves to Europeans on this. In many instances, Europeans have been eligible to retire from certain jobs in their 50s. If they want to raise that age, that's their business. But we should recognize that retirement at 65 is about right considering the physical impairments that so many of us experience by that age.

Raising the age for Social Security in our country to 70 will also just cause more problems for businesses. Inevitably an employer, faced with an opportunity to hire a younger, quicker, physically fitter, more attractive person will find an excuse to fire an older worker -- and get sued for it.

If the right-wing think tanks want Americans to work longer then they need to invent ways to prevent our brains and senses from aging. Now that would be nice. But I doubt that they are willing to invest in it. Probably wouldn't pay -- because the task would be overwhelming. Older people commonly have a variety of other physical problems that I haven't mentioned here -- like a tendency to fall, arthritis in the hands and fingers, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure.

The idea of delaying the retirement age to 70 at least at this time in history is unrealistic.

Just sign me, over 65.