Should Medicare be dismantled?

Question

Why should my tax dollars go to taken care of a bunch of disabled folks who didn't take care of themselves in the first place?

Most debilitating medical problems are caused by being fat and/or diabetic. Two things that are easily preventable.

Answer 1

What an ignorant statement. Should we also get rid of Medicaid and free clinics? Everyone pays for Medicare through their tax $$'s, including the young and the old.

Answer 2

Let us hope that you never need help just to LIVE. There are so many people
who just cannot go out and work anymore due to VARIOUS diseases that
are not their fault. They are not to blame for getting sick. I NEVER complain
about my taxes going to welfare or medical care for the needy. Why do you
feel that way ? Do you resent having to work for a living ? If so, GROW UP !
Get used to it. And stop complaining,...and just be GRATEFUL you even have
a job, and are able to live in the USA. Should we just go ahead and kill every
one who cannot work, due to health problems ??? Be real. What you are
suggesting is dangerous and cruel. Mercy is what u could be begging for
someday...and there will be none. Help is what u may need someday...and
there will be none. Forgiveness is something you may long for...and you won't
get any. That is a very lonely, empty existence without all these things.
Having compassion and empathy........is what makes us human.

Answer 3

hmm let me see you got a point why then should my tax dollars pay for it when your old and can't work anymore. you are a very selfish asshole. do you really believe disabled people can actually hold a job that offers good insurance. NO! i work with developmentally disabled people and i would say you are not worthy of wiping their ***.

Answer 4

Medicare has a number of issues. One of them is not that the bulk of people are on it because of self induced issues.

First off you do not get disability just because you have diabetes. There are millions of working Americans who have diabetes.

Second there are two types of diabetes. The first you are born with. Even the best controlled diabetic with Type I diabetes faces a life of peril. It is really sad that so many people live such abreviated lives full of risks. All by an accident of birth. They can reduce thier risks but even the most controlled diabetic can suffer severe consequences. It is not preventable. At best they can reduce the ravages of diabetes and lengthen the lifespan. This requires religious diet and exercise regimes, expensive medication, forgoeing many activities. One of them is getting drunk. This is not an easy life at best and even if you do all this things happen despite your best efforts to control your diabetes.

Type II diabetes is often associated with being overweight. Obesity is a direct cause of many cases but far from the only cause of Type II diabetes. Often the obesity is a side effect of other serious health issues. So even many Type II sufferers who could have avoided diabetes normally wound up diabetic due to causes beyond thier control. There is also a genetic factor that allows some to become morbidly obese and not suffer diabetes and some who become just obese and get diabetes. Once they have it losing weight is only a control measure. They cannot reverse the fact they have diabetes, only some of the damage.

I strongly recomend reading up on diabetes. You show some clear misperceptions on it.

Next the majority of SSI and Disability receivers are neither diabetic or people who never worked. To recieve disability at all you have to have accumulated a certain amount of funding in your account. Just to be eligbile. That means you had to work for years unless you are a pro athelete. You also have to prove you have no funds to exist on. Many SSI recipients worked lower wage jobs for years and just did not make the required funding levels. The younger you are the more difficult it is for a person to recieve either.

Many on disability or SSI are people with fatal diseases who are in the last stages of thier life. Cancer, AIDS, CLS, ALS, Cystic Fybrosis, etc. They need medical help to make thier last days as palatable as possible and hopefully to put those last days off as long as possible. Many of these people were born with this issue or were unfortunate victims of work or random accident.

Yes there are a percentage of people who intentionally pursued risky life styles which directly resulted in catastrophic health care issues. Drinking is the number one cause of this. Under your logic we should ban drinking. Then smoking, then fatty foods, then who knows what else. Oh yeah cars since car accidents account for a large number of people on disability. Many of these people were at fault for the accident which disabled them. I disagree. Personal liberty is crucial to who we are. This means a percentage of people will make poor choices. It is thier right to do so. To infringe on one group is to infringe on others in fairness and in the end we will all suffer a loss of liberty while seeing no real gain in reduced costs.

You want to fix medicare the best way is to end corruption. To streamline it. We pay 20 times what we should for medicare because of the inefficiency of it. Because of lack of insurance and tort reform that means anything. Again see corruption. Since it is special interest groups like lawyer influences on the democraps and big biz insurance companies on the repugnicans that keep health care costs rising beyond our control.

You want lower taxes lets do something about really cutting the budget. No social programs need be touched. We can wipe out the IRS, institute a fair tax system. Legalize many drugs and quit warehousing people as a means of buying votes. That's what the prison industry has become. Build prisons that brings jobs. The gratefull people then spend all thier money on taxes so that we can build more prisons to bribe more people with low paying jobs. A brutal cycle with no productive purpose. If we end the coruption, really cut the budget and reform the health care industry then medicare becomes a non-issue.

Answer 5

That's not a good way of looking at it. When you get older, you would also need to be taken care of. When you get old, your body gets old. That means loss of vision, loss of hearing, decalcification of bones, etc.

People don't ask to be disabled. A lot disabilities are from car wrecks and war veterens.

Answer 6

This is not true........i was rear-ended 3 times in one yr. and it messed my back up so bad if could not walk, could not work and had to get on disability.

Answer 7

What an interesting question! While I think you are right about Americans needing to make good health choices a higher priority, it is definitely not a good idea to dismantle Medicare. Here is a reality check:

Reality is
1. As people age--whether they have lived "healthful lives" or not-- almost all will encounter health problems. And without Medicare, the costs of health care would be a catastrophe for seniors and their entire families.
2. Employer-based health insurance for seniors is not a realistic option. Most older people who need health care don't have jobs. Those who can work and want to--aren't typically hired in jobs that provide health insurance benefits. The reason is sometimes "age discrimination" or more probably the fact that older people on employers' health insurance plans will, indeed, raise the premiums that the employer must pay to maintain health care plans. Health insurance premium costs are one of the most significant cost centers in businesses of all sizes--and good solutions to controlling these costs are elusive.
3. Year after year the costs of medical care-- including dental care and costs of prescription mediciations--has far exceeded the rate of inflation. This means that older people--those who need medical care the most, but generally have the least ability to pay--are the ones who are the victims of the health care system. Health care is --expensive, yes--but vital to life.
4. In our society, few of us want to face the fact that if we are fortunate, we will be "old" some day. Do you think about the prospects of your own disability and physical demise? "Suffering," feeling isolated, or being dependent on others is not something most of us want to think about, yet this is the reality for many older Americans--even the ones who practiced healthful living in their lives.
5. In our society we treat older people with derision and isolation. Many characterize retirees as "greedy geezers" when most are middle or lower income. Many seniors have courageously served their country in the military and are supporting grandchildren, younger family members and are volunteers in their churches, synagogues and communities. Many older people are caring for spouses and relatives either at home and/or in nursing homes and hospitals while their children and grandchildren are at their jobs. Older people know a lot about life and about caring. Yet, being older is not honored as it is in many other cultures.
6. And here's another catch,--in our society good health practices are not a priority for the younger people who will be old someday. There is a lot of "lip service" by the media on the "health topic de jour" --obesity comes to mind--but expenditures for health promoting behaviors through public health have declined year after year. Also, significant consequences for bad health practices--like smoking--aren't implemented. Citizens' hearts and minds must be won if good health practices are to happen. And, the biggest barrier is that, if asked, most Americans would say that it is none of anyone's business if they smoke, drink alcohol excessively, practice un-safe sex or eat junk foods. "'It is my body and my life," is how most would respond.
7. Anyone who is reading this knows what it is like to be a young child and to be in school. Most of us know what it is like to go through adolescence, to be young and have a job, get married, have kids. But until one is hit with a major disability or a health problem, one does not get to experience what it is like to be vulnerable. Until one is hit with a chronic health problem--one that does not "go away" or "cannot be cured"--one does not understand how life changes. Until you face interview after interview without getting a job--and you see all the young "whipper-snappers" being hired, it's hard to understand the anxiety and despair that many older job-seekers face. When you --or someone close to you--is faced with age-related problems of the chronic kind, your level of insight quickly expands.

Yes, there is a problem with the rising Medicare premiums. There is a problem in financing Medicare period. There are also problems with Congress' failure to fund effective public health initiatives and make cost-effective community health services that support older people and their family caregivers in their homes a priority. There is the need to re-authorize the Older Americans Act. And, yes, there is a big problem when millions of Americans--of all ages--are without basic health care.

Yet this is not a "Republican" or "Democrat" problem--or even a "conservative" or "liberal" problem. This is an all-American problem! It's your problem and mine. Look in the mirror and ask yourself what are you doing about it? What plans have you made for your own aging? Have you discussed end-of life decision-making with your parents? Do you care whether people of marginal incomes in your community who have health needs get these needs met or not?

Thanks for the reminder that the choices I make in what I eat and the exercise I get are important! And, please, take care of yourself! Be good to your parents, grandparents and older relatives--if you are lucky enough to have them in your life. And remember, if you aren't getting older, you just ain't living!