In an op ed in the Los Angeles Times Les Gapay (who has an interesting backstory) writes:
In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the great Social Security program. It was designed to give workers an income after retirement.Today, it’s not so great. The tiny Social Security increase that will be bestowed on retirees and the elderly in January is a cruel fraud perpetrated by the government. That's because increases in Medicare Part B and Part D insurance premiums will negate all of the Social Security 2% cost of living increase for many recipients. Instead of staying even, we’ll fall behind.
I just got my annual benefits letter from Social Security. It says I will get $24 a month more next year. However, after the Medicare premium increases, my new Social Security check will be $3.40 a month less than the one I currently get. (The government deducts Medicare premiums from Social Security checks.)
In my case, the Medicare Part B insurance premium, for doctor visits, will go from $109 a month to $133 a month, eating the entire $24 cost of living increase. And my Part D prescription drug Medicare premium will increase to $20.40 a month from $17. For retirees on a fixed, low income, every dollar counts. We can't afford to have less money — even $3.40 a month — coming in from a government program we paid into for 45 years or so. ...
I paid into the system for decades from my wages, and I don’t want these programs cut.
My dwindling Social Security income is only half the problem, of course. My rent will go up on Jan. 1 by $27 a month. Food prices are rising....
Beyond Medicare premiums, the costs in other parts of that safety net keep rising as well. The Medicare Part B annual deductible — what I have to pay before Medicare ponies up — isn’t going up in 2018, but it rose last January to $183, from $166 in 2016, and $147 in 2015. And pray to God I don’t get hospitalized. That’s Medicare Part A, and the deductible will be $1,340 next year, up from $1,316. Most regular folks can't afford either amount. ...
No one in Congress from either party seems to give a damn. ...
So Les believes, based solely on his age and lack of forward planning that his premiums should be frozen for life. Nice, guess he wants gas, food, greens fees, and everything else to be locked in as well. Another Entitled Boomer, spoiled brats that made the mess and cry about living in it.
ReplyDelete@11:26
ReplyDeleteAre there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?
/yawn
ReplyDeleteSection 1837(f). Nobody's SMI premiums are going down solely because of the increase in the Medicare Part B premium unless:
1) Premium is increased for having a MAGI above the threshold;
2) Premium is increased for late enrollment;
3) Beneficiary is not due a check in December and January (e.g. work test or to earn delayed credits).
Underinformed op ed. Both SSA and Congress need to stop pushing SS as a retirement plan and need to push it as insurance or bribe to retire. It was never meant to replace all your pre-retirement income.
@11:26 if pensions had not be killed and if wages had kept pace with the economy poor Les may have been able to plan or save but he likely did the best he could. Glad to see you have compassion in your soul.
ReplyDelete@4:00 are there no personal responsibility, savings and investments. You can be an ant or a grasshopper, I would bet you fiddle. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDelete