First, do no harm.
That ethical principle, taught to all health care students, ought to be demanded of all political candidates.
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They can do great harm, too.
Take, for instance, the recent statements by two presidential candidates, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush support raising the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security to 69.
Making people wait longer to benefit from these programs would create real hardship. Most people approach Medicare and Social Security like marathoners, hoping they can make it to the finish line before being struck by a major illness, or before their canny boss decides he can get someone younger to do their job for less money.
Christie defended raising the age eligibility saying that people now live longer by which, I suppose, he meant they wouldn’t need Medicare or Social Security as soon.
But a study by the Social Security Administration showed that life expectancy has significantly risen for the affluent. Life expectancy for the rest of Americans — those who need Medicare and Social
Security — is about the same as it was in the 1970s.
Christie’s argument reminds me of a boss I once had who used as an excuse for eliminating pensions that people want to keep working instead of retiring. This same boss later instituted a purge of older, better-paid employees. Raising the eligibility age would just make more people vulnerable to illness and unemployment costs.
And as for the contention that raising the eligibility age would save the government heaps of money, a study by the Congressional Budget Office estimates the savings at between 5 to 10 percent of those programs’ budgets. What would happen though is that individuals would bear the burden of medical expenses.
So, is there a right eligibility age?
Oak Park Township’s senior services programs, for instance, are aimed at serving people aged 60 to 100-plus.
Since there is right now no active legislation on raising the eligibility age, Desiree Scully-Simpkins, director of Oak Park Township senior services, says they are looking at “both the financial and health coverage changes” of this “multi-tiered question.”
I know how vital Medicare and Social Security are to most Americans as they approach the end of a lifetime of hard work.
And I know how some politicians have been trying to kill both programs ever since their inception.
Why these politicians want to do so much harm is beyond me. But they do.
Raising the eligibility age is just the latest chapter in that fight.
Why not raise the eligibility age to 75?
Or 80?
Or 90?
Or …