In his sparsely attended "major policy speech" today in Detroit, Mitt Romney didn't have that much new to say.
Except for his plan to mess with Social Security and Medicare. He got much more concrete, and as has been in vogue among Republicans, wants to take away benefits. He's going Ryan-lite on Medicare (the Ryan-Wyden plan), with the addition of raising the eligibility age, and both raising the retirement age for Social Security and means testing it.
When it comes to Social Security, we will slowly raise the retirement age. We will slow the growth in benefits for higher-income retirees.
When it comes to Medicare, tomorrow’s seniors will have a choice among insurance providers, including traditional Medicare. [...] And with Medicare, like with Social Security, lower-income seniors will receive the most generous benefits.
Starting in 2022, new retirees will participate in this new system. We will gradually increase the Medicare eligibility age by one month each year. In the long run, the eligibility ages for both programs will be indexed to longevity so that they increase only as fast as life expectancy.
They are bad ideas which, no matter how many Very Serious People trumpet them, will do nothing but hurt seniors. In the case of
Medicare the only thing it really achieves is increasing actual health care spending and pushing that cost increase onto seniors.
Neither "solution" actually addresses making the Social Security Trust Fund stable or lowering the cost of health care for seniors. It's smoke and mirrors that does nothing more than put America's seniors—and near-retirees—at greater financial risk.