Retirement Won't Go Well for Future Participants : System Broken

I don't understand what the problem is, every progressive socialist liberal that I have talked to says not to worry, the government will solves all these problems, we just have to give them time to work their way out of all the problems left by George Bush and the Republicans.

Think this is nonsense? Progressive believe that it might take decades to bring solutions for our major problems that face us today, many believe we will never get back to where we were just 4 years ago with unemployment at 4.6% and a deficit of 186 billion. Progressive liberal Democrats howled that this rate was unacceptable. That we were actually in a recession and headed to financial ruin.

Head lines in the media, on a daily basis, screeched about how the Republicans were destroying the country with huge deficits and unacceptable unemployment numbers. 

When Democrats are questioned about this and the progressives 6.5 trillion in new debt over the last 4 years, they say one can't look at that rate in light of what is happening today with corporations out sourcing jobs. They intone the rate back then, and the deficit, was bad given how much better it could have been given a more comprehensive policy of inclusion and redistribution. If Bush hadn't used his power to direct tax breaks to the rich and oil companies and started two wars, we would have had better unemployment numbers as well as avoided the problems we are having today.

If you think this is fantasy, then you haven't had a debate with a progressive liberal Democrats. Problems are always found to be solved in hindsight : They are always someone else's fault and will take longer then 'expected' to solve. It will just take more money, more taxes and more time. Vote Democrat.

Long-Term Care System in Crisis
February 15, 2013
Source: Diane Calmus, "The Long-Term Care Financing Crisis," Heritage Foundation, February 6, 2013.

The United States is not currently meeting the needs of the frail elderly and disabled populations, many of whom require help with activities of daily living including bathing, going to the restroom and dressing as well as cooking, housekeeping, transportation and managing finances. With 77 million baby boomers set to enter retirement, politicians need to make concerted efforts to ensure that long-term care (LTC) financing is sound, says Diane R. Calmus, a former research assistant at the Heritage Foundation.

• Long-term care is used primarily by the disabled -- those who have a variety of physical and cognitive impairments -- and the frail elderly -- those older adults with any combination of chronic conditions.
• Medicaid is the largest source of long-term care, which is becoming increasingly more expensive.
• LTC costs have outpaced inflation since 2003, as the annual cost of a private room in a nursing home has risen to $90,520.
• Because people do not plan well enough in advance for LTC care, 63 percent of LTC funding originates from government programs, of which taxes are the largest source, while private financing accounts for only 22 percent of LTC spending.

To solve the looming public sector LTC financing problems, policymakers must address the underlying problems.

• Attempts by Medicaid and Medicare to recoup LTC expenses through restricted eligibility requirements and mandatory estate recovery account for only 0.61 percent of total Medicaid spending.
• New trends in the marketplace are attempting to design new options for funding future LTC needs, including premium return riders which return premiums to policyholders if care is not needed.
• New care settings are also being developed that transition LTC patients out of traditional nursing home settings into assisted living arrangements that allow patients to live semi-autonomously in an assisted living facility or in their own home.

The soon-to-retire baby boomers will live longer due to advances in medical technology and are more likely to need long term care than previous generations. Calmus calls for new innovative efforts to solve the LTC funding problems that will continue to plague already strained public resources.