Triple whammy hits seniors, disabled
There's no security like Social Security
By Deirdre Griswold
The devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon have given President George W. Bush the excuse he
needed to latch onto Social Security funds.
As recently as August, when the government was facing an
imminent shortfall in operating funds and the press began
speculating on when it would dip into retirees' money, Bush
swore up and down that that would never happen--except in an
extreme emergency like a war or depression.
Then came Sept. 11. Within a day, Bush declared that the
United States was in a "war against terrorism." In the crisis
atmosphere in Washington, the Congress passed resolutions
giving Bush full war powers, including the funds for military
attacks on whomever Washington declares responsible.
All this was supposed to make the people of the United
States more "secure." But the basis had been laid for taking
money out of Social Security reserves to pay for a huge and
open-ended war--and it has already begun.
Not long ago the U.S. government had a huge surplus. Right
wingers were openly strategizing on how to "privatize" the
trillions of dollars accumulated in Social Security. They
praised the magic of the stock markets and said how great it
would be if everyone's retirement money were invested there,
where it would grow like the fairy-tale beanstalk.
But they found it very difficult to convince the public that
Social Security should be "reformed," especially after the
market decline began wiping out 401(k) retirement plans. All
the mass organizations representing seniors and the disabled
were opposed to tampering with Social Security. Politically,
neither the Republicans nor the Democrats wanted to antagonize
such a large constituency.
Then, as the capitalist economy began to weaken, and as the
administration got Congress to pass a huge tax cut benefiting
the rich, the surplus began to vanish. By August, it was nearly
gone. In the financial pages, the talk was that the
administration was going to use some of this money to pay its
bills, but that politically it was risky.
After Sept. 11, like thieves in the night, the Republicans
and Democrats joined forces to pass a pro-war resolution that
has allowed the government to dip into the funds that retirees
and the disabled depend upon.
HMOs start dropping Medicare
The well-taken-care-of fat cats with nice pensions and many
corporate tips for their retirement had already begun pushing
up the retirement age. They were preparing the public to accept
an erosion in cost-of-living adjustments. This is bad enough
news for older workers--in fact, for everyone who plans to get
old some day.
But there is more.
On Sept. 21, a group of health maintenance organizations
with at least 475,000 elderly people enrolled announced that as
of next year they will no longer take Medicare. It is likely
that others will follow.
There are now 123 million people insured through
managed-care programs, according to the Gray Panthers. When the
HMOs were first organized and were feverishly looking for
customers, they courted seniors, urging them to sign over their
Medicare benefits in exchange for coverage.
It seemed like a good deal. If there were copayments, they
would be minimal.
But it hasn't worked out. Health-care costs keep rising as
what there was of a public-health system withers away. Medicare
payments don't keep up. Now the HMOs are dropping people like
old shoes.
The third knockout punch for seniors, including many
disabled, is that the cost of medications keeps going up. This,
of course, affects people of all ages, but it tends to be those
of advanced years who have conditions that make them dependent
on maintenance medications--which now can cost hundreds of
dollars every month just to prevent life-threatening
situations.
There is no longer any talk coming out of Washington about a
government effort to make prescription drugs affordable.
Wars have always given the ruling class the opportunity to
intensify its exploitation of the workers in the name of
patriotism and national security. This war drive is no
different. But especially at a time when every politician
speaks in the name of "national security," it is worse than
ironic that the most widespread form of state-administered
security for people in this country--Social Security--is being
undermined.
Before Sept. 11, there was a growing and feisty movement
against Bush's right-wing program. That program has now been
accelerated, and the need to resist it is greater than ever, as
the looting of Social Security shows.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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