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Means testing is usually brought up for Medicare, not SS. I am perfectly ok with using means testing to come up with graduated Medicare benefits, probably using income (not assets) as the "test" (ie, draws from an IRA or 401k would be counted but the total value wouldn't be).
Off the cuff, I'd probably stage it close to the tax brackets:
High retirment incomes over $250k get no/very little Medicare benefits (maybe limited to prescriptions only?)
"Upper- middle" incomes between, say, $125-250k get 25% of total benefit
"Middle" incomes of $75-125k get 50% of benefit
"Average/ high average" incomes of $45-75k get 75% of benefit,
"Low" incomes below $45k (which I'm betting is the VAST majority of retirees) get 100% benefits.
I don't know who you think would insure these senior citizens for anything remotely like a reasonable amount of money. Heck, why give "prescription only" Medicare? A night in the hospital can cost more than a year's worth of prescriptions.
I guess we'll need to do something drastic like this, since the Trust Fund is already spent and long gone, and there's no way 2.1 workers in America's future economy can support one retiree. And I must say I do resent some early retirees in our extended family living the high life with dual fat pensions AND SS and Medicare, when my generation, just 20 years behind, will get NONE of these goodies--let alone the early retirement.
It's hard to comprehend how much our nation has degraded in such a short time. The previous generation (early Baby Boomers), without college educations and only working 40 hours a week, got luxury retirements at age 62. My generation (very end of the Baby Boom and after) pays for college and often grad school, works 80 hours a week, and since we get no pensions can't afford to retire until the pitiful Social Security kicks in at age 67. Plus, we paid a lot more in Social Security and Medicare taxes.
By introducing means testing, we are also accepting that this is no longer a forced retirement plan--it is yet another welfare program. So let's allow future victims of the failed Ponzi Scam to opt out--and make up the difference by taking the taxes that otherwise would go to multiple foreign wars. We don't need ONE senseless foreign war, let alone three or more. Let Halliburton go bankrupt; I'm sick of being forced to subsidize a Death Industry.
Please understand - other than government workers and anyone in a union, that is NOT TRUE that Baby Boomers are getting pensions.
And first of all, only ONE YEAR of Boomers have reached retirement age! I think folks get the preceding generation mixed up with Boomers!
I am a Boomer and no one my age has retired that I know personally. The only folks I know who have retired are over 66 and up now and they are NOT Boomers.
Boomers were born after 1945 and indeed, most do NOT have pensions to rely on - and most have lost a lot of their savings (or money in tax sheltered annuities or mutual funds) in this market. Also, you need to consider that Boomers were forced by draft into military service, wh/ meant Viet Nam. That delayed education and careers so many men, especially, came home to no jobs - IN A RECESSION. By the time the recession ended, folks had barely gotten their education and established a career, and if they bought a home, it was w/ 20% down and interest rates that were 13.99% and up! So wealth was difficult for Boomers to acquire.
You all need to get your history straight and stop bashing Boomers.
So to clarify -- if someone has paid, say $4k into an auto insurance policy, they are entitled $8k out?
Again if the trust funds had been left untouched or even invested as insurance companies do, the money would be there to pay the benefits as they are for auto insurance.
No, it wouldn't. That's simply false. Medicare was expanded multiple times without any extra funding, since this 1983 event.
Sticking your fingers in your ears and pretending its 1983 doesn't make the problem go away. Neither does demanding "Bigger medicare, but less taxes."
I have often heard people talking about means testing for SS and Medicare. Do you think this should be based on income or net worth? If net worth, what do you consider to be net worth that a person should be disallowed from collecting?
If you paid in, you should get something back. If they are going to exempt the "wealthy" from social security or medicare, they should be exempt from paying into the system.
I, for one, would like to see both programs scaled back. It is a Ponzi scheme that cannot be sustained.
Medicare taxes are not even in the ballpark of covering these costs. Seems like a lot of folk are in denial about how much they put into medicare, versus how much they will take out.
FICA taxes are not even in the ballpark of covering these costs. Seems like a lot of folk are in denial about how much they put into medicare, versus how much they will take out.
Still, it's not a dollar for dollar issue. The money gets invested. Rinse, lather, repeat, the money gets invested.
What do you mean, "it's not a dollar for dollar issue"
We spend $550 billion / year in Medicare, and this number is expected to skyrocket.
We only take in $182 billion / year in Medicare taxes, and we charge seniors $25 billion / year in premiums.
that leaves $204 billion / year just for THIS YEAR that is not covered by Medicare taxes, that is being paid for out of the general fund.
This so called "trust fund" has $70 billion, which is enough to pay for... a few months of Medicare.
And the same people who complain that we "can't raise taxes" are the same people who rant about "Seniors having to eat cat food."
I mean, it's not dollars paid in should equal dollars paid out. The money is invested and makes interest, especially over 50 years of working.
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