AP-GfK Poll: Baby Boomers Fear Outliving Medicare

[Elmore Furth]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) —

The first baby boomers will be old enough to qualify for Medicare Jan. 1, and many fear the program's obituary will be written before their own.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that baby boomers believe by a ratio of 2-to-1 they won't be able to rely on the giant health insurance plan throughout their retirement.

The boomers took a running dive into adolescence and went on to redefine work and family, but getting old is making them nervous.

Now, forty-three percent say they don't expect to be able to depend on Medicare forever, while only 20 percent think their Medicare is secure. The rest have mixed feelings.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/12/29/us/politics/AP-US-AP-Poll-Medicare-and-the-Boomers.html?ref=news

[valerief]

1. Yeah, but the GOPers LOVE this, since they can't sleep at night over

borrowed money that flows to common people as opposed to borrowed money that flows to the wealthy. Besides, their Apocalypse will come sooner without Medicare, and they'll have more reason to shoot people with their stockpiles of arms.

[L0oniX]

2. The whole fucking country is going to be a death panel.

[PSPS]

3. More of the media greasing the skids for Obama's dismantling of the safety net.

They're really pushing to lower expectations here so that when the cat food commission's "recommendations" get shoved down our throats, it will have been "expected." Obama's already signaled this intention repeatedly.

[boppers]

8. I've been hearing about this for 25 years now.

Oddly enough, every few years, somebody screams about how we can't afford the upcoming costs... which makes me wonder why we haven't fixed the issue by now.

[Doctor_J]

4. More of Big Media's scare tactics

aggressive purge of hate radio & cable "news" would make things a great deal better in this country.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. They're right - unless we do something to cut medical costs nt

[DallasNE]

6. But This Is The Core Of The Tea Party

What a mixed up bunch these people are. They started out as crazies in the 1960's, did a complete flip-flop all the way back to being crazies again but on the other side.

[Downwinder]

7. Wait until the find out that it is going to cost them $300 per month

to bring it equal to medicaid.

[Skink]

9. I'd be rethinking that vote for Reagan about now.

[Downwinder]

10. Every Ronnie I have known has been a con man.

[lovuian]

11. well perhaps these baby boomers should vote for

Universal Health

Are we dreaming at night about the sick on the streets and dying on the streets

isn't that pathetic

when we should be dreaming about the freedom that everyone will have healthcare from the time they are born till they die

[eridani]

12. Well, FIGHT for it, dammit! And better yet, fight for real universal health care for ALL n/t

[RobinA]

15. Exactly

Medicare won't die of natural causes, it will have to be killed. Start voting for people who are interested in preserving it. You can't have lower, lower, lower taxes and the same benefits of taxes. I'm hoping for the second coming of the boomers when they wake up, realize that despite their expectations they never did become Donald Trump, and now have to depend on the safety net they haven't wanted to support all these years. You can't tell me that Tea Partyers are all wealthy and can actually LIVE with the results of the nonsense they've been parroting.

[Le Taz Hot]

13. Apparently they've forgotten

the generation which they are about to fuck over and what we're capable of. We have the numbers, the education, the experience in bringing about change and 40+ years of activism under our collective belts. If they think we're going to just accept this bullshit then they're dumber than I thought and that's saying a lot.

[sendero]

14. Baby boomers...

... fear outliving their cat food.