For those of us under 50, I propose that it is time to step up. This is our call to help our country, and to help future generations. Those of us with enough time to deal with change, to absorb it and modify our plans; those of us with elderly parents, and maybe small kids, Generation X and below – we can do it. Here’s the idea:
I am a father of three young kids; I’m turning 40 on Friday. Like most in my age group, I am 100% behind health care reform, with the strongest possible public option. I think that the polling has proven that, regardless of the specific fears and challenges that are being aired right now, a strong majority agrees with me. I have a lot to gain from health insurance reform, and very little at risk. That’s not, however, the case for some of my elders, and I think we are ignoring a generational bargain that would tackle this great problem while not affecting my elders.
I see on television some of my elders fighting any change at all, no matter what, not for rational reasons, but with raw emotions driving their fury. The pundit class, given their average age, also must share this concern, having locked in their path through the world.
And I’m pretty sure I understand it.
They have lived in a world with a given model, even if it has not been perfect, it is what it is, and they might feel they are too old to adapt to any change – a lot at risk, not much to gain. I respect that – many of them are living on fixed incomes, with very low risk tolerance. Many have lost a significant amount of their paper wealth in the equity market crash of 2008. They just can’t afford to have something go wrong, so they get vocal. God bless them for standing up for themselves.
So here is my proposal:
Anyone over the age of 50 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 – 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.
But for those of us under 50, I propose that it is time to step up. This is our call to help our country, and to help future generations. Those of us with enough time to deal with change, to absorb it and modify our plans; those of us with elderly parents, and maybe small kids, Generation X and below – we can do it. Here’s the idea:
- If you are over 50, you get to live out your years with NO CHANGE to anything, if you like. You are free to enjoy the system that you built, warts and all, and you don’t have to worry about any change. Call it the “Respect our Elders Wishes” law.
- For us, the next generation, the 21st century generation, however, we will need to step up and take it on, squarely:
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Those of us born after 1 January, 1960, would become eligible for social security at age 70. This single policy change to the social security system would substantially change the balance sheet for our Country in ways that tweaking health care cost centers would never match. (Perhaps we can allow for “privately financed retirement” to start at 65 (or even 60?), where 401(k) type investments will become available with no penalty, but public financial assistance would not kick in until 70 (or later?). I am not afraid of a means test, either. We have time to plan for that. We can adapt – that’s what we have learned to do best.
- For those of us born after 1 January 1960, The new health insurance system with significant change, change that we, younger Americans are ready for and have been asking for, would be put into effect. A fully digital system, a system for the future, where outcome data and facts are openly shared and used to advise proper care. The red herring cost projections currently presented by CBO and other will finally show the real positive impact when coupled with these structural entitlement eligibility changes.
- The workplace and the model of work is changing dramatically, but our institutions are not keeping pace. Those of us born after 1 January 1960 know this, and we are already adapting. For us it will not be a shock to be asked to continue our productive inputs into the economy past the old “retirement age”.
- Those of us born after 1 January 1960 are on track to live longer that our elders, thanks to the medical innovations and discoveries our elders have been responsible for. We owe them our respect and thanks, and we owe it to them to change our expectations for retirement. With more attention paid to work/life balance now, we can plan to step up and work further into our elder years. It is already happening; my elders are working later in life than they probably expected, or wanted to. Young Americans know that this is coming , and we’ve got time to prepare for it.
- Our children need to be raised to be healthier than we have been. Cash incentives should be made available to the young adults to maintain fitness. Let’s allow the profit motive to work its magic with the health of our children. Such investments will give us a future of lower health care costs.
I have benefitted a great deal from the hard work of my elders. I was fortunate to live though a young life with no military draft, and no immediate physical danger. I love the country my elders have built. But it needs some fixing, and I am willing to take responsibility for that. It is the responsibility of every generation to leave the country better off than they found it. It is my duty to my children, and the future of this great country.
I don’t have cost models to back this up with hard savings calculations, but I am not making a financial case here. I am proposing a generational bargain for our shared problems. What better time to do this than with a President under 50. I strongly believe that my generation is ready to tackle this – we MUST tackle this.
Our elders deserve our respect, and they have every right to live with the status quo if that is what they want. Those of us under 50, however are just starting to make our place in this new world, and we have a duty to make the necessary choices ourselves. By proposing this, I would hope we can calm down the generational conflict, and find a solution that is in keeping with our great country’s traditions of continuous reinvention.
I want to be remembered as a member of a great generation. If we can do this, we just might be. I want to be part of the generation that obliterated the cost curve, pressed the reset button on entitlements, and made the future more certain and bright for our children.
Let’s go.