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I'm very sorry to hear that, did she refuse because of the expense in treating it, or because she didn't think it would prolong her life?
My Dad had a bad heart valve, he knew he would die if he didn't have a valve replacement, but when he retired he lost his health insurance so he decided to wait until he was on medicare. Once he was on medicare it took about a year to get the tests done and the surgery scheduled, he died the night before surgery, shortly after his 66th birthday.
She didn't want to have chemo or surgery. Stage 2 lung cancer, not easily treated 20 years ago.
These things were never promised to them. I don't know where they got the idea, because I remember being a child in the early 90s and my mother who is now close to retirement getting statements on what she was entitled to. On the bottom is said something to the effect of this is not a retirement plan, you should have a retirement plan in place. I can't remember the exact wording. This wouldn't the first time the age was adjusted. Social security isn't a retirement plan and was never meant to be one. It only came into being when many elderly people were literally homeless. I feel bad if they can't afford their homes and car payments, but they have options. There is free (to them) transportation for the elderly. I think it's called access something. There's also senior housing that is income based. If they wanted to keep their homes and cares, they should have planned and doubled checked things.
It's easy to approach the subject with youthful ideology isn't it?
The bottom line of this reasoning is tantamount to accusing ordinary folks of being irresponsible for not having "enough" retirement savings ... what? in the hundreds of thousands $ or millions $ even??? ... when they hit their 60's.
The fact is this: millions of decent ordinary Americans were prevented from saving as much as they could have due to factors beyond their control ... divorce, family illness, bad investments, being victims of crimes and embezzlement, unemployment during recent Recessions in the 1990s and the great one in 2008.
Please don't lecture me about not buying my home until I was in my late 40s (and it won't be paid off until for another 15 years) ... but as a working class blue collar type of guy I was not able to buy one until then.
By the way "free public transportation" is a reality here in Philly because we have SEPTA; but my favorite uncle -83 years old - in NYC only gets a senior discount on using buses and the subway and still has to pay something like $1.25 per trip ... and he has a lot of doctor's appointments. My point ... MOST seniors do not get free transportation, just us lucky ones who live in cities where it is available.
A sizable group of younger folks, hold the belief that retirement can be 100% self-funded, without any external support, government or otherwise. Of course, they've never actually run the numbers to determine the probability of success of this theory.
People often see SS as all that is needed. The people on this forum are smarter than that, but there are lots of common people on the street who think SS is all they'll need.
Possibly because the benefit amount isn't that far removed from the take home pay they've been receiving in their working years.
The ignorance and fear mongering in this thread is astounding. Any changes to SS will be and always have been done in a way that it does not effect those already in retirement or within 5 - 10 years of retirement. Those affected by far are the youngest Americans who are still years and decades from retiring.
Everybody get a grip and stop with the lies and false news. You people are ridiculous and seem to thrive with putting seniors who don't know any better into a panic. Shame on you.
[mod cut, quoted post deleted as being inflammatory political rhetoric more appropriate for the companion thread in P&OC]
OK, I get the fact that there are "forces at work" that want to greatly reduce SS and other entitlement programs.
Here are your problems.
1) There is still fear out there among many politicians of doing anything substantial with SS or other entitlements. I guarantee there will be some Republicans defecting in the House due to this fear. Who knows - it may still get through the House.
2) The Republicans only hold 52 seats in the Senate. If two Republicans there defect, they're gridlocked. That's not even counting the filibuster.
3) Trump is friendly to entitlements. Any analysis of his statements and records will show he is probably the most SS friendly and "big government Republican" we've had in any of our lifetimes.
Those are good points. There's a tendency to think of a Republican controlled House and Senate as being monolithic. That isn't the case, and was a problem for Bush in 2005 when he was pushing his Private Account proposal. Many in his own party didn't support it.
I don't understand. Is there some reason you don't qualify for Medicare, or are you perhaps not 65 yet? Past age 65, Medicare pays for your medical expenses, so you're not going to have any debt.
I don't understand it either. I've been executor for a few aunts and uncles. All had expensive end of life medical care. None of them had any money. No debt collectors came calling.
Social Security doesn't need a huge change. Why do you think that?
It's been a wonderful program for seniors. It needs to continue.
Damn well better continue...we have been paying 6.2 percent of our salaries into it for a very long time. Forget the benefits...fair is fair.
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