I want to start a discussion on how we can secure Medicare and Social Security so they will be viable for years to come. So to start I will mention a view things and ideas you may not know or realize.
1. Social security and Medicare are both "individual" based programs. But you get you medicare card from Social Security and pay them you medicare part B premiums.
2. The maximum age today to be able to draw SS and earn as much as you want is age 67. A person can draw social security at age 62 at a 25% discount and earn up to about $14,500/year.
3. Adult non-disabled Medicare starts at age 65.
As I mentioned both programs are individual based and this is IMO where several problems lay need to be modified. We are a society, as is much of the world, where many are married. This means conflict because a family operates on 2 incomes and there is an age difference between spouses ages. So first of all I thing the first change should be:
1. The the SS initial age of 62 up to 65 and extend the age of drawing full SS up to 69 . Today a retiree that starts SS at 62 has to wait 3 years for medicare. This is just a sample to play with.
2. This is the big one and I will give you figures you probably don't know. With medicare, which are individual accounts, the government counts both spouses incomes when a person applies for medicaid. Example and the figures used are factual for 2019. Wife x has very bad medical problem to needs constant attention. Her income from SS is $850.00/ month. As a single person she qualifies for full medicare. But oops, when they count the spouses income and that TOTAL is over $1,170. the wife no longer qualifies for full medicaid. There is formula that allows a solution that ends with part medicaid help and the dual income for that is $1,847 gross income/mo for the couple. This means that if a couple who has been married most o their adult lives are better off getting a divorce.
3. So, IMO the shoring up of SS has to include changes in Medicare at the same time. The ages need to be somewhat in sync.
4. Both programs were started long enough ago so that the mortality ages were substantially lower. These need to be adjusted. People can have beneficial second careers. Their is no reason for the government to fund retirements for people who can still be gainfully employed.
I don't see any reason this problem and solutions are partisan.
1. Social security and Medicare are both "individual" based programs. But you get you medicare card from Social Security and pay them you medicare part B premiums.
2. The maximum age today to be able to draw SS and earn as much as you want is age 67. A person can draw social security at age 62 at a 25% discount and earn up to about $14,500/year.
3. Adult non-disabled Medicare starts at age 65.
As I mentioned both programs are individual based and this is IMO where several problems lay need to be modified. We are a society, as is much of the world, where many are married. This means conflict because a family operates on 2 incomes and there is an age difference between spouses ages. So first of all I thing the first change should be:
1. The the SS initial age of 62 up to 65 and extend the age of drawing full SS up to 69 . Today a retiree that starts SS at 62 has to wait 3 years for medicare. This is just a sample to play with.
2. This is the big one and I will give you figures you probably don't know. With medicare, which are individual accounts, the government counts both spouses incomes when a person applies for medicaid. Example and the figures used are factual for 2019. Wife x has very bad medical problem to needs constant attention. Her income from SS is $850.00/ month. As a single person she qualifies for full medicare. But oops, when they count the spouses income and that TOTAL is over $1,170. the wife no longer qualifies for full medicaid. There is formula that allows a solution that ends with part medicaid help and the dual income for that is $1,847 gross income/mo for the couple. This means that if a couple who has been married most o their adult lives are better off getting a divorce.
3. So, IMO the shoring up of SS has to include changes in Medicare at the same time. The ages need to be somewhat in sync.
4. Both programs were started long enough ago so that the mortality ages were substantially lower. These need to be adjusted. People can have beneficial second careers. Their is no reason for the government to fund retirements for people who can still be gainfully employed.
I don't see any reason this problem and solutions are partisan.
