Social Security and Medicare
Adulthood Discussion (Discussion 5)
The subjects of retirement and health insurance are much in the news these days. Discuss your plans for retirement with a special emphasis on income after retirement and health insurance. After a lifetime of paying Social Security and Medicare taxes in every payroll check, your grandparents and parents are counting on having Social Security and Medicare to help with the inevitable loss of income occuring at retirement.
Things may be different for your generation. Many are discussing privatizing Social Security and doing away with Medicare. Even Republican voters in the State of Florida are opposed to this plan. Read the report on a survey of Republican Primary Voters who objected 2:1 to plans to change these benefits (among Hispanic voters, opposition was even stronger with 4:1 voters opposing changes). Given what you know of the volatilty of the stock markets that are up one day and down drastically another, would you risk your retirement to the stock market? Would you risk your health on having the ability to pay for private health insurance when you retire?
Despite what you’ve heard, Social Security and Medicare can be saved. The generation entering the workforce today (The Millenials) are an even larger generation than the retiring Baby Boomer generation. As long as as many or more are paying into the system than those who are retiring, the programs can and should be saved. You never know how your life will turn out and it is essential to have a basic retirement cushion to live on. Moreover, it is your money after all. You have paid into both Social Security and Medicare with every paycheck since you started working.
What can you do now to help save Social Security and Medicare? Some believe it is essential to send politicians to Washington and Tallahassee who will protect those benefits. But it is not enough to save these benefits. What can you do to guarantee a comfortable retirement and good medical care in your old age?
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Based on my experience with my parents I have learned one important thing in planning for my retirement: Personal savings are critical, because social security pension is not sufficient to cover all your expenses. Medicare is not sufficient either therefore one must also have an adequate health insurance. According to Feldman: “It is sometimes helpful to prepare for retirement from full-time to part time work and consider try out, temporarily the community to which you are thinking of moving”.
I am only 12 years away from retirement, I have a traditional IRA which I do long-term investment with. I have been working as a Licensed Practical Nurse for a long time now, by becoming a Registered Nurse I will be able to have access to a better health insurance. I also plan to open a 401k account where I can make more investment and collect money for my retirement. I will definitely not invest any of my retirement money in the stock market. Longterm investment with capital preservation is the best way to collect money for my retirement.
I will continue to participate in the upcoming elections in order to support the right people and prevent the privatization of social security which will increased retirement risks and cause severe cuts in Social Security benefits.
(Feldman, R.S (2015). Discovery the life span (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.)
