|
|
|
| Current Issue |
|
|
| Resources |
|
|
|
What Do Seniors Want?
| Article
# : |
10912 |
|
|
Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
|
| Issue
Date : |
5 / 1993 |
2,454 Words |
| Author
: |
Rita Richardo-Campbell
Rita Ricardo-Campbell, a senior fellow at the Hoover
Institution at Stanford University, specializes in health care
issues and the economic and political problems of the Social
Security system. Her latest book, coedited with Edward
Lazear, is Issues in Contemporary Retirement. |
The current elderly, those over 65 years of age, want to protect their economic status. A primary source of their income is Social Security benefits. Therefore, the elderly oppose trail balloons that would cut the rise in the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of their benefits. They also oppose any method that would increase their income taxes on the Social Security benefits that they receive.
Because the elderly consume more medical care on average than do younger-age groups, they are very concerned about the extraordinary rise in overall medical costs. They also oppose any attempts to raise the entitlement age for Medicare benefits, and rationing by age is an anathema. Many elderly believe the federal government should finance nursing-home care for the elderly to a greater extent than it already does under Medicare.
On the other hand, many younger working people believe that already they are paying too much intaxes to support the current aged. Many younger individuals have no faith that the Social Security system will continue to pay benefits when they are old. The baby boomers see themselves in generational conflict with the aged.
Whereas the traditional theory was that the older you get, the more likely you will die, it is now that the older you get, the longer your total life expectancy will be. On average, a person who is now 50 will live to be 79; but 15 years from now, someone who is 50 will, on average, live to be 82. Already, 12 more years' worth of Social Security old-age benefits is being paid out to the average person than was envisioned in the mid-1930s.
Advancing medical technology has increased the average American's life expectancy at birth from 63 years in 1940, shortly after Social Security was passed, to 75.4 years in 1990. Also, the number of those 85 years and older had increased to 3.3 million by 1990 and is expected to increase by more millions than previously anticipated in the years to come.
Ever-better medical technology has a price: The longer people live on average, the larger Social Security costs will be. It is uncertain at what rate mortality at older ages will decline in the future or when its rate of decline will level off. There is a direct link, for example, between mortality rates and the success or failure of the Clinton-endorsed antismoking policy.
Lobbying for reform
...
Read Full Article
Look for this article in Ask.com
|
|
