Great - Medicare Tanks Just As I A Baby Boomer Will Become Eligible......

[global1]

for it.

[Cleita]

1. It hasn't tanked yet. There will be millions of really angry old people if they

even try to.

[classof56]

2. Right on! Hey, I just got a new knee (thank you Medicare!) and

I'm ready to hit the streets and kick some Repub butt if they try it. SENIOR POWER!!

Tired Old Cynic

[Daphne08]

7. You bet, and I'll be one of them!

[SoCalDem]

3. No accident there..

While we boomers were working our asses off , paying INTO the system, they were generously buying off giving the elders (our parents & grandparents) nice increases in benefits & services...(bear in mind that THESE folks were also the ones who got $1-down houses they could afford, cheap cars, free, or nearly free educations, decent interest rates for their savings, union jobs that kept ahead of costs, and pensions too)... These people voted in larger numbers than their boomer children/grandchildren, so they were well-rewarded for their candidate support...with Boomer-money..

I always knew that the "greatest generation" was taking way more than "their share", and that when I was old, there would be a lot less for me.. I also "knew" that the whole 401-k thing would end up being a boon for a few, but a big flop for most of us. Handing over hard-earned cash every week to strangers on Wall Street to play with.. .. with them knowing you could not even access it for decades, was NOT a good idea..and now everyone knows what they did with all that money for all those decades.. They gambled it away, and paid themselves handsomely too.. They did send us lovely statements quarterly, to make us think we had some wealth, but even Bernie Madoff sent out lovely looking statements, ans we all know what happened there.

The one difference in our circumstance now, is that old people now have massive debt. In past generations, people did not embrace debt like recent generations have had to do (wages do not keep up with costs, so debt becomes the way to bridge the gap).

Globalization did away with real job/wage growth, we have few if any pensions, we are bogged down in debt, living in houses we owe more on than they are worth, our jobs went bye-bye, and now we are figuring out that , at the end of our rainbow is a pot of IOUs that will never be redeemed..

But hey.. rich people got their taxes lowered a LOT during those decades, and they have more buying power than ever, and their kids are doing just great..

America...what a country :(

[upi402]

8. Yah but boomers bought the "new Democrat" lie and voted for Reagan, Clinton, Obama

We were easy to fool and will pay for it dearly. (not all of us were fooled, just in general)

[Hannah Bell]

10. our parents didn't take "more than their share". this is the line they're going to use on your kids

against you, & you're buying into it.

health care is a renewable resource.

[aquart]

4. Link?

What are you talking about?

[global1]

6. Sorry - But It Came Up A Couple Of Times That Medicare Is In Financial Trouble.....

and that something needs to be done to make sure it stays solvent instead of kicking it down the road for someone else to deal with.

[demodonkey]

5. It wouldn't tank if it were applied to Americans of ALL AGES...

Medicare needs to be expanded, made more comprehensive, and applied to ALL Americans. The younger people (who do tend to use less healthcare, statistically) would help balance it out.

i.e. Medicare for All = SINGLE PAYER, Healthcare for ALL.

That's what we need.

[Festivito]

9. Let's see. It has older folks and people insurance companies dropped.

Those are the two groups of expensive people.

So, the more people insurance companies can drop, the more they can point to Medicare as ready to break and therefore Medicare should not be an alternative for all the American people. Only the dropping-of-Americans insurance companies should be allowed -- no alternatives.

So, Medicare survives on 3% of workers wages paying for the most expensive clients while the entire systems runs on 12% of GDP, more than four times what Medicare collects, and when it drops someone onto Medicare, it pays nothing more to Medicare in having Medicare take that new person. Nope. Nothing.

Amazing.