A New Look at Healthcare Costs in Retirement

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ain't it grand folks.

And this folks is what we get for living in the land of "milk and honey". WHATEVER. People are fighting tooth and nail to get into this country when every hard-working decent American would float away if they could to some other country where perhaps they could AFFORD to retire. The retirement myth is just that...."a myth". My generation will be working until we are no longer able to work. We'll just die right where we are....at work. I won't have the retirement that my grandparents enjoyed. I most certaintly will not be able to retire as my parents did in their late 50's. There is no way that I will EVER see retirement. I've seen my company-sponsored retirement plan plummet to almost nothing. I've seen all my employee benefits take a nose dive. I live frugally. Far more frugal then my parents did. I drive an old car. I have a modest mortgage. I work far more hours a week then my father EVER worked and yet, I just can't seem to get ahead no matter what I do. It's frustrating as all get out. And NOW I have to worry about how I'm going to save upwards of $600,000 to cover my future medical expenses. Give me a break. Like THAT is ever going to happen. By the time I retire Social Security won't be around and Medicare will be a long-ago benefit.Wonderful. All those dollars taken out of my paycheck for what will end up being years and years and years for absolutely nothing. I see nothing of any great benefit when I hit retirement age. There won't be any fancy RV rolling along the highway, no social security check to help cushion the loss of fulltime income and most certainly no medicare to help pay for my medical expenses in my old age. Life past 65 is going to pretty much be a pathetic stage of life for my generation. That's Great. JUST great.

Tc of FL @ Nov 12, 2008 15:33:05 PM

And this folks is what we get for living in the land of "milk and honey". WHATEVER. People are fighting tooth and nail to get into this country when every hard-working decent American would float away if they could to some other country where perhaps they could AFFORD to retire. The retirement myth is just that...."a myth". My generation will be working until we are no longer able to work. We'll just die right where we are....at work. I won't have the retirement that my grandparents enjoyed. I most certaintly will not be able to retire as my parents did in their late 50's. There is no way that I will EVER see retirement. I've seen my company-sponsored retirement plan plummet to almost nothing. I've seen all my employee benefits take a nose dive. I live frugally. Far more frugal then my parents did. I drive an old car. I have a modest mortgage. I work far more hours a week then my father EVER worked and yet, I just can't seem to get ahead no matter what I do. It's frustrating as all get out. And NOW I have to worry about how I'm going to save upwards of $600,000 to cover my future medical expenses. Give me a break. Like THAT is ever going to happen. By the time I retire Social Security won't be around and Medicare will be a long-ago benefit.Wonderful. All those dollars taken out of my paycheck for what will end up being years and years and years for absolutely nothing. I see nothing of any great benefit when I hit retirement age. There won't be any fancy RV rolling along the highway, no social security check to help cushion the loss of fulltime income and most certainly no medicare to help pay for my medical expenses in my old age. Life past 65 is going to pretty much be a pathetic stage of life for my generation. That's Great. JUST great.

Tc of FL @ Nov 12, 2008 15:32:16 PM

Democrats vs Republicans

As an independent it is really easy to see why our country really has very little chance of surviving over the next 25 years. Both parties (D's and R's) look only at the votes they will get and not the long term consequences to the country. The D's want to give everyone a health care that will attempt to keep everyone young and alive forever no matter what the costs to the tax payers may be. The R's want healthcare to be market based and thus run by free enterprise. To me both sides are totally misguided (which should be no suprise to anyone). There has to be a middle ground but both parties despise and distrust each other so much that I do not see that happening until it will be way to late for the country to be rescued. The D's have to get over trying to keep everyone alive forever and stop trying to get government involved in health care (I would love to have someone tell me one program that the government hasn't screwed up). The R's need to stop believing that the health care system is fair. When hospitals are allowed to charge their insured customers 10% of what someone without insurance is charged there is a problem. Medical schools limit the number of graduates under the guise of quality control when in reality it is used to keep doctors incomes up. This is not anything but robbery. Why can't the two sides work together and (OH!! escuse me that's a stupid ides). Every one deserves a very basic health care plan and that does not need to cost an arm and a leg. My hope is that we get someone with some common sense (Obviously that means they would not be a politician) to figure this out before we have to swallow another entitlement program the size of a watermellon.

Doug of IA @ Nov 12, 2008 13:27:04 PM

Democrats are hardly the answer

the last poster said voting for Democrats is the answer, so that big govt. can tax us to death and promise the safety net they never deliver on.

Every reitrement or health program the govt. has touched (and taxed us for) has turned to poop -- and near bankruptcy status.

Why would we want more govt. bureacrats in charge of our money, only to provide terrible service, and spend the money on things that have nothing to do with where the funds were supposed to go.

Wake up folks, and quit hoping for govt. to secure your future. All of the Democrats promises for the last 40 years have resulted in massive failure.

steve of CO @ Jun 05, 2008 16:39:13 PM

A call to action!

This, YOUNG people, is why you had better elect a lot of Democrats and soon. Insurers and the incorporated "medical" providers have their crosshaired target scopes fixed on EVERY penny that your parents and grandparents ever had or hope to have. And, they will vacuum it all up as sure as the sun rises, unless YOU elect and enact universal health care for your folks and yourselves.

Daniel David of NM @ Jun 05, 2008 14:04:14 PM

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