Friday, December 31, 2010

Newsmax... Medicare in Fiscal Crisis from Boomers


From Newsmax.com…
Medicare in Fiscal Crisis as Boomer Retirement Wave Hits
Thursday, 30 Dec 2010

WASHINGTON — You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and think you deserve your money's worth: full benefits after you retire.
Nearly three out of five people say in a recent Associated Press-GfK poll that they paid into the system so their benefits shouldn't be cut.
But a newly updated financial analysis shows that what people paid into the system doesn't come close to covering the full value of the medical care they can expect to receive as retirees.
Consider an average-wage, two-earner couple together earning $89,000 a year. Upon retiring in 2011, they would have paid $114,000 in Medicare payroll taxes during their careers.
But they can expect to receive medical services — from prescriptions to hospital care — worth $355,000, or about three times what they put in.


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