When I was growing up in the 70's I always thought you get out school, get a good job, stay with the company until you've reached retirement age and then lived happily ever after. To say I was naive would be an understatement.
America's culture doesn't lend to taking care of elderly as a whole. This is evidenced in the fact that poverty rates for the elderly in America could be two times higher than the traditional poverty level of 10% in this country. A ballpark translation of that percentage is 6.8 million elderly people in this country.
Now, I have heard the arguments about healthcare reform raging in this country. I have heard arguments on both sides; some that make sense and others that are completely ridiculous, rooted in the socialist boogieman stories we all heard during the days of the cold war. Therefore I want to be perfectly clear here when I say that I am not talking about health care benefits for illegal immigrants and people who "just want to abuse the system and have someone else take care of them."
This isn't about people "having to pay for their benefits and everybody else’s"
This is about people, real people who have spent their entire lives working and contributing to the success of this country and who now have to decide between paying their electric bill and buying needed medication for such aliments as diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, and other such bothersome illnesses.
Between the years of 1988 and 1994 the number of retirees who were able to keep their healthcare benefits from their employers as part of their pension fell from 44% to 34%. Today nearly 2.1 million near elderly (a.k.a. not quite old enough for Medicare) lack any sort of insurance but people aged 55-64 are usually the ones who are in fair to poor health. Any kind of major health complication could end in disaster for them. And without benefits they are less likely to go and get preventative care.
Even those who qualify for Medicare don't necessarily get the coverage they need. With gaps in government health-care there are instances when participates have to pay for all their prescription costs out of pocket until they reached a certain monetary limit. Call it Medicare’s deductable if you will. Those limits are typically too high for retirees to pay out of pocket so they go without needed prescriptions.
I don't proclaim to know the answer to this; I just know that something has to be done. Next time someone has a comment about the healthcare reform debate, instead of thinking Republican VS Democrat think about a woman named Susan who worked from the time she was 11 years old but now in her late 60's only gets $546.00 in social security and $111.00 in disability payments. After she pays her rent she has only 144.00 pay bills and buy groceries.
Just some food for thought.
References:
- Powell-Griner, Eve, Bolen, Julie, Bland Shayne, Heath Care Coverage and Use of Preventive Services Among the Near Elderly in the United States, American Journal of Public Health, June 1999, Vol 89, No 6.
- Fletcher Stoeltje, Melissa, Hard Times Hardest on Elderly Poor, Express News, San Antonio TX
- The Associated Press, MSNBC, Hidden Pockets of elderly said to be in poverty, September 4, 2009
