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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDemocratic Senator Jeff Merkley: ‘We Should Be Lowering’ The Medicare ‘Age, Not Raising It’
Now THAT'S a response:
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We should be lowering the age, not raising it, Merkley said. Speaking of the president, Merkley added: I hope he hears long and loud from us who are connected to the real lives of working people.
Read more: http://boldprogressives.org/democratic-senator-jeff-merkley-we-should-be-lowering-the-medicare-age-not-raising-it/
LWolf
(46,179 posts)for my senator.
classof56
(5,376 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)Bjorn Against
(12,041 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)gkhouston
(21,642 posts)Lugnut
(9,791 posts)Sarah Ibarruri
(21,043 posts)TahitiNut
(71,611 posts)NealK
(1,850 posts)Poll_Blind
(23,864 posts)PB
neverforget
(9,436 posts)I went from Earl Blumenauer D-AWESOME! to this wanna be
philly_bob
(2,419 posts)...instead of staying on the job for the benefits.
4_TN_TITANS
(2,977 posts)People at the height of their experience and skills, with the ability to strike out on their own. What's not to like?
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Comrade_McKenzie
(2,526 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)antigop
(12,778 posts)Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)I join him in hoping the President is listening to those who are not Beltway Citizens and Republican stooges.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)He's consistently good -- one of the very few politicians who hasn't proven to be a disappointment in some way.
TheKentuckian
(25,018 posts)DallasNE
(7,402 posts)I have been saying to tie Medicare to Social Security, which allows for early retirement but with a reduced benefit and that would apply to Parts A, B and D. It may take a half percent increase in the payroll tax to pay for this because B and D are outside the Medicare financing arrangement today.
Coyotl
(15,262 posts)and my ex's good friend.
I'm in favor of 62, same as Social Security.
jsr
(7,712 posts)Amen to that.
byeya
(2,842 posts)Get profit out of the delivery of health care. Pay nurses what they are worth too.
Bette Noir
(3,581 posts)He looks like such a dweeb on TV, you have no idea how cute he is in person.
Report1212
(661 posts)This is the only proper response to the question, "Should we raise the Medicare age?"
mountain grammy
(26,598 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)medicare improves the quality of life for some and thats important.
SunSeeker
(51,504 posts)Cleita
(75,480 posts)locks
(2,012 posts)I was a social worker for many years; it was heartbreaking that working people who became disabled by a serious disease or injury and couldn't work could not get Medicare for two years. This was especially hard during the years when HIVAIDS patients died before Medicare kicked in. Many of these people under 65 had worked hard and had too much money for Medicaid but not enough to pay the huge hospital, doctor and home health costs. The "reason" behind that sad rule was that the government needed two years to "prove" that the disability was real. If, after bankrupting their families, they qualified for Medicaid, when they received disability payments and Medicare kicked in it did not cover all the meds or services they had received under Medicaid. All of this depended on whether they could find an MD who would take the ridiculously low payments.
The people we elect will never be connected to the rest of us as long as they receive the very best medical care and pay nothing for it.
DaveJ
(5,023 posts)2 years to prove a disability is ridiculous. It's the weakest among us who are treated the worst. I can't believe Republicans get so much of the Christian vote. What hypocrites.
I purchased a gun is so I don't have to go through this disgustingly torturous system.
I won't do it. I want to have my freedom to make choices for MY life.
docgee
(870 posts)Lower it to 55, have those 55-65 working people pay into it with rates relative* to paying private insurance, and Medicare would be much more viable.
*relative meaning less than private insurance of course, but I don't know what that would be exactly.
hell, it could even be voluntary.
Turbineguy
(37,285 posts)the gap will be paid for by magic money!
You Democrats don't know shit about republican economics!
CrispyQ
(36,413 posts)Senator Merkley,
limpyhobbler
(8,244 posts)blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Forward, Austerity!
.
Operation Northwoods: The 9/11 You Never Knew
EC
(12,287 posts)would lower the cost - should save money in long-run. Even better OPEN IT FOR ALL.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)K&R
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)And he is one of my two senators.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)truedelphi
(32,324 posts)Permanut
(5,554 posts)Proud to say he's my Senator too.
nineteen50
(1,187 posts)raising the Medicare age requirement.
femrap
(13,418 posts)then the old folks could retire and let the younger people have jobs.
I'm so tired of my HEALTH being dependent upon mostly a bunch of rich, white dudes who couldn't care less about me. All these dudes are in the pockets of Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big Med...which just wants to take my last f*cking cent then send me to some horrid nursing home or hospice where they still won't kill me. It's all just a system of TORTURE.
We give our pets more respect when they reach old age.
upi402
(16,854 posts)Or go away.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)xxxsdesdexxx
(213 posts)Call it what you want it can be Medicare for all, Single Payer, or Government funded health insurance. I don't care. With everyone in Washington obsessed with the deficit, I see no better way to immediately reduce it than by insuring every single person in the United States with a single payer, government run, health insurance system. We would eliminate the "for profit" middle men known as the health insurance industry, and we would replace it with a "not for profit" government run health care system. We would have the power to reduce health care costs by negotiating for lower prices on all health care related expenses -- health care, prescription drugs, medical equipment & devices, etc. -- due to our sheer numbers. We should also include dental insurance as part of this single payer, medicare for all, program. We should contact our members of congress and the president -- repeatedly -- until they understand that this is our path forward -- this is our destiny. It's not a matter of us getting there, it's a matter of when we get there.
xxxsdesdexxx
(213 posts)They need to hear it from all of us.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)andym
(5,443 posts)who prevented it in early 2010, after having previously supported the idea when running for office.
xxqqqzme
(14,887 posts)Then have no age limit because Medicare will be single payer!
dkf
(37,305 posts)Open up Medicare and have everyone pay full boat and it will be expensive.