General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Question: how would you feel if they raised the minimum age of Social Security or Medicare? [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)One thing that happened to change my mind is: I became unemployed for a short time this year. I am 58. I then realized that, hey, how long someone works is not necessarily the worker's decision. In fact, it often isn't. I was lucky enough to find another job, but usually, if someone my age is laid off, they will not find another job, or a decent job.
Someone my age would be hanging on...every week, every month, every year would be sucking his/her life savings, paying for health care and living expenses. If I hadn't found another job, I would've used my life savings to pay for living expenses, hanging on until I could get some Social Security at age 62. Then I'd have to hang on for only 3 more years to qualify for Medicare.
I work in an office. But the working poor have physical, hard jobs. Their employers may get rid of them when they get older, or they just get worn out. They are shoe salesmen, cashiers, construction workers, waitresses. They're on their feet many hours a day. Not many people are going to hire a 62 year old waitress. She will NEED Social Security.
We are not in control of our destinies. The wealthy guys...they are in control of how long they stay in their office jobs, usually. When they get really old, they stay on as consultants, even. And they have much more money to rely on for living expenses. Union workers get benefits and age of retirement protections.
The AGE a person qualifies for these benefits is critical to many lower income and middle class workers.
One more thing: If Medicare shaves off a couple of years of participants, that concentrates the older, more sickly ones into Medicare, making it less efficient, arguably. (65 year olds are generally healthier than 67 year olds.) AND those two years...if they're not able to get good health care, when they enter Medicare, they will be less healthy, costing the program more.