$289,000 or maybe $812,000

I am going to suggest we are not good men [people]. “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children… Proverbs 13:22A.

 

The two numbers that title this missive relate to the unfunded Medicare (just Medicare) debt we are leaving for our children, children’s children, and even their children. It is immoral.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 128 million Americans are 30 or younger. These are the ones that will be paying the unfunded Medicare debt. The debt, depending on whose numbers one uses, and the assumptions you accept, ranges from $37 Trillion to as much as $104 Trillion.

We are leaving our progeny with somewhere between $289,000 and $812,000 (or more) each to pay for our profligate health care spending. Some people blame the 78 million Baby Boomers for this (I am one, and Medicare eligible in 2012). I blame politicians for being gutless.

Oh, did I mention, this is only the Medicare debt, and does not account for Social Security shortfalls, or the Obama deficits.

A farmer that eats his seed corn dies. A nation that consumes its children’s inheritance dies, and deserves to do so.

As a 63-year old father and grandfather about to become Medicare-eligible, I suggest four immediate changes to Medicare coverage (if those already on Medicare refuse to participate, so be it – nothing stops us from embracing change):

1)      Delay enrollment for Baby Boomers. I am 63. I will wait – 70 sounds like a good starting point. And then index it.

2)      Means test it.

Medicare is a welfare program. There, I said it. Welfare. The average Medicare enrollee today has paid in less than $40,000 over a 40 year work life, and will receive more than $250,000 in free services during Medicare enrollment. That is a welfare program.

3)      Allow doctors and hospital to “balance bill.” This means, let medical providers charge a fair rate, instead of the underfunding they receive today. Without doing this, Baby Boomers will seldom find a doctor willing to serve them.

4)      Change Medicare to a defined contribution program. Instead of paying for benefits, no matter what they are, provide a fixed amount each month to be used to purchase health coverage. The Medicare enrollee will have to make up any difference in cost (yes Matilda, we can make some arrangements for low-income welfare recipients, but it’s the middle-class and wealthy Medicare welfare recipients that need to start paying their own way.

5)      (Yes, I know I said four, but this one is profound enough to make you think. Maybe it’s time we came face-to-face with the reality that we do not have the right to live forever, when it means we steal from our great-grandchildren.)

Let’s have a robust discussion about this. How many of you could care less about what we leave for our children’s children? Okay, you three move further to the left. The rest of us want to fix this problem.