Politico's lead article today frames a "Senior Problem" for Democrats. As I wrote in my diary yesterday, i think this "problem" can in fact be the launching pad for a "New Generational Deal" where a "Respect our Elders' Wishes" law can be included that gives seniors the option of immunity from any new Health Care scheme.
What we are seeing is not a right / left issue, it is a dichotomy between those with no time or willingness left to adapt to change, vs. those with time (those of us under 50 or so).
To quote my diary from yesterday:
Anyone over the age of 50 [or 65?] would be officially immune from any systematic change to the health care system. No cost cutting could be done to any program that currently helps the elderly. We don’t touch a thing for anyone over 50 65 – they are grandfathered into the system they have come to know. They deserve to live out their years with no radical changes to their safety net.
We of younger generations are the ones that need to, and are in a more favorable position to, adapt to systematic change.
This is not a perfect slam-dunk, but the idea might be a staggered system:
- Freeze current Medicare system in amber (Medicare Classic) for those over 65 - no cuts, no changes, business as usual (if they wish)
- Offer optional Medicare 2.0 to those between 50 and 65, with some package of modifications that start to look at cost containment, etc. (Heck, frame it as a Co-Op for American Masters (all 50-65 year olds eligible, paid for by younger generations as a sign of respect for our elders.)
- Under 50, the full suite of changes that are proposed in the emerging consensus legislation across the various committee bills (maybe even rename the poorly branded "public plan" as something more patriotic, maybe "AmeriCare"
The language we use ("Respect our Elders", "Change only for those who are ready", 'Medicare Classic' for those who want to maintain EXACTLY what they now have) will free us from this broken and misguided debate.
The youth of America is hungry for change - let's not force our elders to change too, if they don't want to. Let's "Give them their country back" whatever that means. That's all they seem to be asking for, and we should be smart enough to figure our a way to "Grandfather" them out of this change.