A NATION OF WHINERS
I always believed that older people with their longer experience should be the ballast that steadies the ship of state when the winds of change blow with gale force. Well, think again. The children of the greatest generation are leading the charge in turning this country into a nation of whiners.
Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh. But the outcome of the health care debate could depend on what seniors think, and right now things ain't looking too good. Instead of leading the way to needed change, seniors are having a collective panic attack.
Too often my fellow senior citizens (yes, I'm one of them) are the first to complain about taxes being too high and the first to complain if their benefits are reduced. The very word used to describe Social Security and Medicare says it all: Entitlements. How many times have you heard someone say "I worked hard all my life, and I earned my right to Social Security"?
Well, I am as liberal as the day is long, but I never thought that it was anyone else's responsibility to take care of me or my family. I grew up in a working class household that saw some mighty lean times during the 1950's. Maybe that's why I have always thought liberal but lived conservative. I chose a career that provided solid health and retirement benefits. When I crossed into my 60's, I took a look at my health and did what I could to make myself stronger as I went deeper into old age.
I never gave those choices too much thought until I looked around and saw what other people were facing as they aged. Let's be honest. Too many people just blew off their health in their 30's, 40's, and 50's only to find themselves facing some very expensive cures for some very avoidable diseases. There is a reason why lifestyle diseases – obesity, diabetes, kidney failure and heart disease – are overwhelming the American health care system.
To be fair, changes in America's workplace added to the problems. The disappearance of traditional retirement plans and the steady erosion of benefits provided to ordinary working people have left many seniors totally dependent on government benefits like Social Security and Medicare. Naturally they worry about their benefits, especially given the fact that so many of them have multiple doctors treating multiple conditions with multiple medications and tests.
But you know what? It isn't like we haven't seen this day coming. Collectively, we have known for years that a demographic tsunami of old people would overwhelm Social Security and Medicare unless something was done to fix the system. Well, change is coming and many seniors are running scared.
And guess who is first in line to feed those fears. Uh-huh. The ditto-heads and other right-wing contrarians who have taken control of the Republican Party. Mind you, these are the ideological descendants of the same politicians who fought Social Security and Medicare tooth and nail but who now clutch them to their political bosoms and vow to defend every last benefit to the death.
In thwarting any kind of health care reform, the screamers and shouters who are disrupting the town hall meetings are merely doing the heavy lifting for politicians who have taken money to prevent anything that might take a few pennies out of the pockets of their biggest donors, the health care insurance industry.
August 9, 2009
| blog comments powered by Disqus |
Tags:
Medicare
Health Care Reform
Senior Citizens
