Social Security - A Parachute Made of Sand

Two major topics in US politics - Social Security and health care - seem to have merged this week. According to the media SS recipients will not see COLA increases for the next two years. In fact those 32 million who participate in the Medicare prescription drug program will see a slight drop in SS benefits.

Boy, that should teach Seniors to speak out about elements of health care reform in those Town Hall meetings. Actually I'm positive that this COLA freeze had been in the works prior to the Town Hall meetings. The economic downturn has put additional screws into the Social Security Program and something had to give.

The average SS recipient receives $1,153 a month in benefits (I receive about half that amount). Current workers pay SS taxes only on the first $106,800 of their annual income. This limit rises as the average national income levels increase. What I'd like to know is who the hell thought up that one up?

The average Joe maxes out at $42,000 in annual income and pays FICA taxes all that time, but those who earn more than $106,800 see this tax stop when that limit is reached. Young professionals earning $100,000+ salaries will see this tax stop toward the end of each year and end of year bonuses will be FICA free. Those huge bonuses that were given to executives who helped to get us into this financial mess are also FICA free.

When time for retirement rolls around and SS benefits are determined based on the last three years of employment, I'm sure that amount will only be a small portion of some retirement packages (maximum monthly SS benefit is $2323). For some Americans it will be all they have to live on. Not everyone gets a golden parachute.

This seems like a pretty good time to uncap the Social Security tax limit. I'm less favorable about raising retirement age to 70 to receive full benefits. I could see giving someone a bonus for working past 66 years of age or capping FICA once an employee has reached a combination of age and years of employment. But a cap on Social Security tax for those who can more easily afford to pay it seems irresponsible in our present financial situation.

No one gets out of here alive

Over 400 million people live in the United States and 90% of them are insured. I find that remarkable! Only 10% of US inhabitants are without health insurance, but does that mean that they are without health care should they require it?

We hear in the media of dramatic instances when someone is turned away from emergency rooms due to their inability to pay. Lack of treatment makes news, it's not the standard of practice. Serious illnesses or injuries will be treated by hospitals whether you are insured or not.

The uninsured are less likely to receive preventative care, such as blood pressure or cholesterol screening, prenatal care, mamograms, etc. There are free or very inexpensive services that provide this care, but not everyone who needs them line up to use them or even knows about them.

I also wonder how many of the 10% uninsured are sick at any one time - 2%, 5%, which would translate into 800,000 or 2 million people? There are approximately 6,000 registered hospitals and over 25,000 health clinics of various types in the US. Could these facilities take on 25 to 100 uninsured patients on a daily basis with assistance from an as yet to be determined public/private funding source or are they already doing this and passing on the cost to the insured?

The print and media coverage of health care reform is making my head spin. What I'm hearing doesn't seem to be about the issue of providing health care to the small minority of people who can't afford to pay for insurance. If that were the issue, then I think it would be a manageable problem.

There seems to be something at work here that is unrelated to providing health care to needy people. If Congress would address themselves to that issue only, perhaps solutions could be reached.

Douthat, NY Times columnist, says that if, "health care reform perishes, senior citizens will have done it in." Further blame is being dumped on the health insurers and the Republican Party for scaring people into public protests.

The truth is that government programs once begun always seem to outgrow their initial mandate. Social Security and Medicare were created to help those who were unable or failed to provide for themselves. These programs are on the verge of bankruptcy.

We have to be very careful that whatever health reforms we put into place won't add to this colossal debt. Why is this so difficult to understand?