The baby boomers as they have been called turn 65 this year. Seventy million more Americans will turn 65 by the year 2030. That is about 10,000 people per day for the next twenty years.
If you have read some of my past postings, I have said that social security last year starting paying out more than it took in on a monthly basis. WOW, what will happen now. We have two systems in Medicare and Social Security, that are outstanding programs, but will be bankrupt quickly if we do not have some changes in policy
In 1935 when Social Security was signed into law the average age of Americans was 61.7 (Men 59.9, Women 63.9) So you can see most people never received social security. In 1960 the average age was 70.8 (66.6 for men and 73.1 for women). Medicare was signed into law in 1965 and the first beneficiary was in July of 1966. So you can see that for both Social security and Medicare the pay out was not for many years. I am guessing that when it was designed, it was probably not designed to last Americans more than five years ( again that is an opinion). Today the average age in America is 77.8 ( men’s average is 75.2, women is 80.4). Again this is a system that I do not believe was designed to last ten years per person or more.
Well as times change somethings need to be amended. Since the system is broke, maybe by design, maybe because of better medicine, better doctors, whatever the reason does not matter, it needs to be fixed. .
Here is the idea, first sometimes we allow people to take social security early (not for disability purposes), that has to change. We also since we are living longer, probably need to work longer, that means maybe we cannot collect these benefits until age 70. We can gradually make these changes like anyone born after 1970 for example collect social security and Medicare at age 70 ( pick a year that makes the number work, it can be 1965 whatever)..
Americans and politicians alike need to realize that sometimes change is painful, but also necessary. If we do not fix it now, it will be gone by the time I am age 65 or 70.
The source for the ages is www.cdc.gov/nchs
Thanks for reading.
Eric Wilson is the president of I Sell Health, Inc. A Chicago based company that provides benefits in five Midwest states. He can be reached at 888-448-5370 or online at www.isellhealth.com