New Seniors

Histrionics outshined the topic of reform at the health care summit. During the more than seven hours of this made-for-television event participants tried to strut their stuff.

Yet these efforts seemed to be directed toward fellow politicians rather than to those Americans who took the time and had the inclination to watch the proceedings at home.

Overall the “show” was a plodding presentation of selected facts mixed with a generous sprinkling of anecdotal stories designed to support opposing political agendas. Seeing the actors play their assigned roles was grueling at best. And, with few exceptions, the tableau was about as exciting as watching paint dry. The summit resulted in a stalemate on substance because the discussion was straight down party lines. The question that begs to be answered is did either side move the needle in their direction? And if it did, will this change the way Congress ultimately acts?

The Democrats wanted to demonstrate that their plan provides both coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and saves money in the long-run – a tough combination to beat and even tougher to deliver. On the other hand, Republicans needed to show they were not the party of “no” and had feasible and fiscally responsible ideas to bring to the table. While the party in power had about twice the air time, it appears they did not have anything new to say while the opposition was able to make the point that health care reform needed to have bi-partisan input, which appears unlikely to occur.

Many pre-boomers believe the health care we expected and relied on is slowly and sadly slipping away. The generation born between 1930 and 1945 certainly would like those without health care to have access to affordable coverage. However, pre-boomers are naturally reluctant to have this happen if their coverage is going to be diminished by cutting $500 billion from Medicare in order to insure others. This issue must be addressed and satisfactory answers provided. Unacceptable is the notion that the shortfall will be taken care of by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse from the Medicare program. Really? If this is the case, then why isn’t something being done now about these kinds of systemic problems instead of waiting for the bill to pass before fixing them?

The Medicare budget cut is huge, but it is not the only area of the proposed bill that should be questioned. There are enough potential problems hidden in the details of the health care bill that the best action may be to regroup, get both sides of the aisle involved and build a sensible plan that phases in over time. This is wise because there are other, even more pressing, issues facing the country that require immediate attention, like out-of-control spending and the depressed job market to name just two.

This is the time for pre-boomers to make our collective voices heard. Contact your elected representatives; tell them how you feel about health care and how you expect them to vote on the bill if they want your vote in November. This should get their attention, because savvy politicians know those 65+ account for nearly 30% of the votes cast in primaries and off-year elections. And 2010 is one of those years.

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