From The New Republic:
Republicans have claimed over and over again that they are not trying to cut Social Security and Medicare. Heck, Joe Biden got them to agree they would not make cuts to the programs in a memorable verbal maneuver during his State of the Union speech earlier this year.
And yet, the Republican Study Committee (of which some three quarters of House Republicans are members of) just released its desired 2024 budget in which the party seeks to, you guessed it, cut Social Security and Medicare. ...
The proposed budget would effectively make cuts to Social Security by increasing the retirement age for future retirees. The document seeks to assure people that there would only be “modest adjustments,” but does not list what Republicans think the new retirement age should be.
On Medicare, Republicans propose requiring disabled Americans to wait longer before getting benefits and turning Medicare into a “premium support” system, a long-floated Republican idea that essentially turns the government program into a voucher scheme. ...
19 comments:
People are living longer, and there is better healthcare and knowledge about nutrition. More people are stating heathy and capable of working.
I'm 67 and still going strong, working full time, good performance appraisals too. Working helps keep me sharp.
Perhaps the Republicans are right on this one. Adjusting the retirement age would also help protect the trust funds.
They also just proposed to destroy any hope of having a skilled federal workforce by further cutting benefits and eliminating pay raises (except for the military, of course, and for themselves). If you’re ever wondering who the real “enemies of the people” are, you needn’t look beyond the GOP.
Raising the retirement age is fine for white-collar workers, not so much for anyone doing physical labor. I'm 65 and in reasonably good health. I'm not sure I would be able to stand/walk 6-8 hours/day, especially if I had done that for the last 45 years.
I wish i had your life. Loved my job. Worked full time. A desk job. About 3 years ago started having back and shoulder pain. Doctor does not know why but in Jan this year back fusion and laminectomy. This month left hip replacement. Probably January 2024 left shoulder replacement and now x-ray showing problem with right knee so may need replacement sooner than later. And I am still below FRA. Unable to work.
9:31, life expectancy in the US has dropped in recent years. There are also huge variations across race, sex, and education. Increasing the retirement age is a cut to everyone, and it means more people (especially more men, people with limited educations, African-Americans, and Native Americans) will never get any of the benefits they paid into.
Plus, being alive does not = being able to work. With improvements to health care, people can survive longer with cancer, Parkinson's, dementia, and lots of other conditions...but the conditions and their treatments are often still work-limiting or work-precluding.
Of all the ideas for reducing Social Security outlays or increasing revenues, why pick this one?
11:59 Sorry to hear of your health issues. I know I've been blessed and lucky. Plus I've been kind of a health nut since my 20's with my diet, and hours of walking per day. But I know others are not in my situation. Raising the retirement age for all is a tough call.
For awhile I started having moderate to severe neck and shoulder pain last year. Researched it and found the likely cause : hours spent hunched over a deck and on the computer, for my white collar desk job. Plus working from home my monitors were set too low and I was always craning my neck to see them,
Got monitor risers for my monitors and presto after a few months the neck and back pain is 90% better.
People are not necessarily living longer, and 10:45 is right, it depends on what you have done. I can do sedentary work but I doubt I could be on my feet all day.
When the Republicans talk cuts (with no discussion of lifting the contribution threshold) Democrats have to fight just to preserve the program and can't enact any improvements in the disability program.
You know what else would protect the trust funds? The rich paying more in FICA taxes to support a system that promotes societal stability. The wealthy benefit more from that aspect of the program then they realize. Desperation breeds crime.
@4:17 nailed it and this would go a long way to shoring up the trust funds.
@4:17 PM
Desperation also creates a compliant workforce with reduced bargaining power. The traditional business and investment types, who used to make up a large part of the Republican Party, were never in favor of any policy that empowered workers to bargain, either individually or collectively. If you do away with Medicare and Social Security, desperate older workers will be competing with younger workers for jobs, thus driving down wages and benefits.
The ironic thing now is that workers who benefit from government programs, whether they are current beneficiaries or not, form a large portion of the Republican base but vote against their own interest because, you know, woke, drag, and other trigger issues. Decent wages and benefits cannot compete with "owning the libs."
I didn't get a cent from my term life insurance and it lapsed after 20 years. Money down the drain so to speak. No return on investment.
Similar principle to paying into Social Security, and then passing away before retirement, before getting any return.. That possibility isn't a reason to keep the retirement age artificially low.
@417 How many desperate people receiving SSA benefits are committing crimes?
Tax the rich? That works well. Rich folks can't figure a way to pay themselves non wages.
They did it before and they will do it again, also see France, guess what, they didnt roll it back!
RIB is the problem people, wait till they change Medicare, that is where the real money problem is. They are going to have to either move the age or up the taxes because they cant make it up on premiums. This is a far larger problem than the RIB system.
Every single person in favor of raising the retirement age seems to have the same "I still worked into my sixties with no issues, and I didn't have no fancy ergonomic desk in my executive office and neither did my secretary" level opinion on things.
Go talk to a shipfitter or boilermaker. See how much they're loving life while still working in their sixties.
Yeah its important to point out that life expectancy has not increased meaningfully for blue collar workers, and for the most part, medical and tech advances have not made these job significantly easier to perform compared to 20 years ago. A plumber or carpenter still need to be capable of bending and lifting.
Raising the retirement age will be the default policy outcome if Democrats refuse to address the trust fund issue in the next few years. This is what Republicans are counting on -- do nothing, and by 2030, the only viable option will be raising the retirement age.
They want to make T2 people wait longer for Medicare?? That is counterintuitive! Many need Medicare to get needed treatment to improve. We all know the hoops Medicaid makes people jump through just to get an MRI!
I have no problem phasing retirement age until 69 if it is done gradually. However, SSDI will need to be streamlined and create a GRID category for over 65 and increase the maximum social security earnings to $400,000.
The last change in FRA didn't take effect at all for over 15 years and was gradually implemented. It's still 4 years before people retiring at FRA have to be age 67, over 40 years after the change in the law.
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