May

4

Democrats 2008 – Medicare and Social Security

Posted by cameron

May 4, 2007 |

In the run-up to next years Presidential Elections I am taking a special interest in candidates positions on these two issues. When it comes to health-care I am particularly interested in what they have to say about Medicare and its future. As the oldest boomer I am fast approaching retirement and the next President will likely be in power when I retire.

Medicare

In General: Democrats want a Universal Health-Care Plan and will strengthen Medicare by removing the restrictions on price negotiations for Part D drugs. Part D should become less expensive. I also expect them to remove restrictions on importing cheap American drugs back from Canada.

Hillary Clinton: Clinton has made Universal Health-care for everyone a centerpiece of her campaign. The Washington Post recently quoted her as saying that “taxes would not go up to pay for it. We’ve got to get the costs under control”. Apparently she has no plan but wants to listen to other people’s ideas. I still don’t know what this means to Medicare. Maybe it’s a part of the Universal plan. She believes in taking small steps to fix big problems, eating the elephant one bite at a time. Clinton has a pro-senior voting record.

As an aside, her web site is useless, nothing but spin. There are no issue position statements as there are on the other contender sites.

John Edwards: He also is in favor of Universal Health-care and will raise taxes to pay for it. You can read Edward’s plan here. The way I read it is that Medicare will be rolled into this plan to leverage purchasing power, although this is not clear. It sounds like a big plan; the type that Clinton failed with more than a decade ago. Edwards has a pro-senior voting record.

Barak Obama: Believes in affordable health-care for everyone. That means a system that will not bankrupt the country but enable everyone to be able to purchase coverage at a reasonable price. He will open up prescription drug Part D Medicare to negotiations on prices and will allow the re-import of American drugs from Canada. There is no specific mention of Medicare, other than drug costs, on Obama’s official web site.

Social Security

In general: I expect Democrats to support a re-imposition of taxes on the wealthiest among us. Al Gore once said that Social Security could be fully funded for a very long time just by repealing the tax cut on the wealthiest Americans. I don’t know if he was correct but it was stunning.

Hillary Clinton: Clinton will support Social Security as a right. It is not an entitlement program. She is the one person who thinks that getting a 2% return on the money I have paid all my life has created whatever problems we have. She would attempt to fix that. She is the only candidate talking about Social Security, probably because she is on the Senate Aging Committee.

John Edwards: SS is not listed as a major issue on his official web site.

Barak Obama: SS is not listed as a major issue on his official web site.

My Take: Clinton is the only candidate talking about my personal retirement concerns in any meaningful way. Round One to Hillary. I’m certain that will change as Primaries get under way but I refuse to be an afterthought.


Comments

1 Comment so far

  1. Republicans 2008 – Social Security and Medicare :: Empty Nest on May 9, 2007 6:02 am

    [...] recently posted my findings on Democrats here and this is the same look at the leading Republican [...]

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