How the Republicans Plan to Save Retirement

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As Republicans have acted to save and strengthen and secure Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, their efforts have not always been appreciated by voters.

SocialSecurityCard-570x379

For the audio version of this article please CLICK HERE.

Representative Paul Ryan was the main author of the last Republican plan. He explained to skeptical voters that Republicans did not want to attack these programs. In 2011, the Ryan plan was widely interpreted as an attack on the elderly, shifting funds away from retirees and toward tax cuts for extremely wealthy.

Paul Ryan spoke about saving and protecting Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. He was unsuccessful at convincing the public.

But the phrase is still used today.

We believe that it’s important to save and strengthen and secure Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security.

Tom Price, (R-GA) Chairman, House Budget Committee, January 12, 2015

Conservatives point to increased life expectancy as the reason. More old people means more money being spent to keep them alive.

Where the problem is, where the big spending is, is obviously the mandatory, the automatic spending: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Tom Price, (R-GA)

There is a problem with this part of the Republican argument for reducing costs.

Increased life expectancy is not the problem. It is part of the solution. Most of the increase in life expectancy happens because of decreases in infant mortality. More kids are growing up to adulthood. That means more working adults can share the cost of keeping us older folks from dying or going hungry.

But there is a problem with Social Security in the form of baby boomers.

After World War II, a whole lot of guys came home to a whole lot of women and a whole lot of new kids resulted in a whole lot of viewers of the Lone Ranger and Howdy Doody. Then we grew up, and worked, and supported Social Security. Now many of us are retired and more of us are retiring each year. Proportionately, not as many kids came before us. Not as many came after us.

On any age chart, we are one huge bulge in the middle of the American torso. When we’re gone, everything will be just fine. At least for Social Security. Until then, we have a temporary problem – the Battle of that Bulge.

The Republican plan has always been to save Social Security through a dramatic revamping of the program. To be fair, there are competing solutions.

One way to win the battle of that bulge is with one extension.

Americans pay Social Security on their first $118,500. Most folks never reach that limit, so we pretty much pay Social Security on everything. If America raises that limit on those who earn lots and lots more, those wealthy folks will get more at retirement.

But that move will also win the Battle of the Baby Boom Bulge.

Still, the Republican plan of privatization is a workable alternative.

Medical costs are a different issue. They are an actual problem. Both parties see the problem. But Republicans and Democrats have different approaches. Democrats want to increase competition in regulated insurance pools. They want to shift the structure of medical payments to reward caregivers for better health for patients, rather than for the number of costly medical procedures that are performed.

That approach seems to be working. Increases in medical costs have been reduced, then reduced again since Obamacare was enacted. The rate of growth is now at the lowest point it has ever been in my lifetime.

The Republican approach to Medical cost has been to rely on a different incentive. In 2011, they proposed shifting Medicare and Medicaid to a payment support system. Some sort of voucher would be issued to each elderly person. Those of us approaching retirement would then have an incentive to find the cheapest care possible. Actually, we would pretty much have to. That is because each elderly recipient, or that recipient’s family, would have to pay for any part of care that went way beyond the level that Republicans would support.

In 2011, Republicans took a lot of heat because all of the savings from privatization and vouchers seemed to be going to more tax cuts for the extremely wealthy. However, this was just part of a larger program. The idea was to provide more income to job creators by decreasing their taxes. That income would then be used by wealthy folks to create jobs for the rest of us.

Here’s how Tom Price, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee still puts it.

You can grow the economy. And that’s where we hope to put our major efforts.

Growing the economy by reducing taxes on job creators.

This time, Republicans have been a little wiser in presenting their plan. The actual plan will be held back, not given to media people and public analysts for their unbalanced, snide comments about cuts in benefits. Specific details of the conservative plan to save and strengthen and secure Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security will not be revealed until much later. Republicans want to keep the focus on something more constructive.

Save! Strengthen! And Secure

But we are assured that the details will include the creative approaches that were shot down in 2011.

We are intent on building on the success that we’ve had already at the Budget Committee over the last 4 years.

The plan will shift incentives to the elderly. We who will be on Medicare will provide the savings, since we will now have the motivation to shop around for the best deal. That is how the market system works. We should have faith in ourselves and in the free market system.

…have faith in the American people, and have faith in the free market system that has made us the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Providing more tax benefits to the job creators of our society will still be an important part of the plan. If we expand for them the success they have earned, their success will become our success.

expand success for the American people

Republicans will provide more freedom to everyone by making Social Security the voluntary program it ought to be. They will provide compelling incentives to the elderly as they exercise their new freedom to shop for the low cost plan of their choice. And new legislators will revitalize the economy by expanding the success for the job creators who certainly have earned it.

I can’t wait to have our new members on the Budget Committee sink their teeth into these wonderful issues.

Me too. I can hardly wait for those sinking teeth.

This article is a collaboration between MadMikesAmerica and FairandUNbalanced.com.

About Post Author

Burr Deming

Burr is a husband, father, and computer programmer, who writes and records from St. Louis. On Sundays, he sings in a praise band at the local Methodist Church. On Saturdays, weather permitting, he mows the lawn under the supervision of his wife. He can be found at FairAndUNbalanced.com
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Norman Rampart
9 years ago

Very similar difficulties over here in Blighty re our social security. Like America there are the ‘baby boomers’ now retiring and retired giving us a similar bulge but we now also have an increasing population via immigration and people living longer putting a further strain on resources.

If immigrants would do us the courtesy of not coming and old people would do us the favour of just dying we’d be fine! (that is a poor taste joke by the way)

It seems that regardless of who is in power over here the rich are fine and the rest of us can go to hell basically.

Obama has done an amazing job considering if you ask me – which you didn’t but when did that ever stop me eh?

Bill Formby
9 years ago

While I understand the market system and I might be willing to shop around and find the best price for a TV or a car. But the one thing that no one should ever have look for the best bargain in and that’s medical care. Anyone can go to Mexico and get cheaper medical procedures but do you want to do that? I sure as hell do not. I go to the VA and I use my own personal doctor who has been my personal doctor for over 30 years. Is he the cheapest in town, I doubt it. Is the best? To me he is more than adequate. He has been used for years by the University of Alabama Athletic Department and several Olympics back he was on the USA team’s medical staff in Sydney, Australia.
The Republicans are still beating the same drum they have always beaten. Take care of the rich and let the money trickle down to the rest of the people. This is still a pile of B.S. just as it was when the “trickle down effect” got its name under Ronnie. It did not work then and it is still not working. One look at the country from George H.W. Bush through the Clinton Years and back through George W. Bush should tell a 5th grader that their system does not work. Taking on an economy that was in shambles President Obama has managed to bring it back despite congressional interference.

Marsha Woerner
9 years ago

You know, there are couple of things that the Republicans who are all for privatization never consider.
First, there are those of us on Social Security who are not elderly! I’ve been on Social Security because of disability since I was in my early 40s. So it’s not only the elderly the year trying to screw over! And there are concerns other than medical that we, who can’t control whole lot of our physical existence, need to deal with every day! Controlling our money is not, necessarily, a concern with which we would like to be burdened!
Second, many of us do not care to research and be involved in figuring out “the best” investments or medical plans! I know, one can think that these are important, and these concerns should be taught and considered all through life, but I’m here to tell you that they’re not! First of all, anyone who has any contact with young kids knows that there is a huge pool of interests! I personally am more interested in mathematics and science, and less interested in economics and medicine – okay, I actually am quite interested in medicine, but that’s neither here or there. I am not interested in being screwed over by a everyone who wants to sell me something! Avoiding that is a project in and of itself! We all know what kinds of problems our computers, for instance, face. We spend so much time, effort, and money, trying to minimize the negative effects that we have from our computers. But hey, it’s capitalism! Someone’s making a buck! Personally, I would prefer that that buck not be made off of my prospects and potential. I know it’s popular to say that we don’t want “the nanny state”, but I DO want people in the know making some decisions! I am particularly pleased to allow others to make certain decisions. Aside from that, Medicare has the ability to negotiate lower prices for certain kinds of medical procedures than can be negotiated by private institutions. Given that our whole health system is totally screwed up, I’ll take what I can get!
TIME FOR SINGLE PAYER FOR ALL!

Reply to  Marsha Woerner
9 years ago

Single payer is long past due!! Unfortunately I doubt we will see in in the next 20 years, if then. Too much greed and not enough compassion in America.

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