I don’t drive anymore. At my wife’s insistence I sold my car just before my 79th birthday. She said I had lost a step and should not be driving but I never truly believed that. Still, and this took me a number of years to realize, when she insists on something, it’s better to go along, rather than resist. Otherwise I find, for one thing, foods I really can’t stand on the table as well as other subtle nudges toward her point of view. So rather than face meals of sautéed squid with tofu, topped off with a steaming bowl of fish head soup, I acquiesced.
Lucky for me, my city has the best public transportation system in the U.S. and perhaps even the world. An annual bus pass costs me 30 bucks a year and saves me tons of money. Our gas prices are near $4.00 a gallon the last time I checked and insurance, maintenance, parking, and on and on, you can do the math. It’s true I have to wait at bus stops for the next bus, rather than jump in the car and go but when you’re in your 80’s you don’t have a lot of real pressing appointments, so the wait is worth it.
We get a lot of tourists from all over the world and I notice them marvel when someone loads their bike on the rack at the front of the bus or when a wheelchair comes up on the lift. Another advantage of riding the bus for us in the foggy class is we get to meet a lot of different people, listen to a lot of different ideas and opinions out in the real world. A couple of months back my seat partner, no doubt a tourist; ask me about my bus pass. When I explained how the system worked, he said, “Why that’s nothing but raw Socialism!” My reply was “Yeah, like the roads, its great aint it?” Okay, so he didn’t talk to me anymore for the rest of the trip but that’s the luck of the draw when riding the bus.
One of my favorite pastimes on the bus is taking my own personal surveys. A few weeks ago my seat partner was a fellow in his late 40’s who, I learned in the course of our conversation, had a master’s degree in something or other. I forget now what his specialty was but I do remember it was not economics. He said, “I really don’t think it’s fair that you people on Social Security get free medical insurance.” When I pointed out the fact that we pay for Medicare and that a premium is deducted from our Social Security check each month, he didn’t believe me. You Kos readers under 65 know better than that, right? I decided to take a survey and ask middle aged bus riders if they knew Medicare Premiums were taken out of Social Security income. The survey of course is not scientific but roughly three quarters of those I asked did not have a clue about the monthly premiums.
My Social Security income is small because of the years I did not pay into it. I think it was 1949 when military people were first included in the system. When I began to draw Social Security retirement in 1992, deductions were made for Medicare. My wife retired in 1995 and premium deductions were made from her account as well. We did not use any Medicare benefits at all till 2006. In 2006 at the suggestion of the Military Medical Service we were advised to acquire a Primary Care Manager. We did and see him every three months. He charges Medicare roughly 2 hundred dollars for each of our quarterly visits. Our current Medicare Premiums cost us about $2,400 a year. Do the math. You can see we paid a lot more into the system than we took out. I don’t believe we are all that unique. Of course there are people who have severe medical problems and I certainly don’t mind our premiums being used to cover their costs.
I have children who are approaching retirement age. I have advised them not to apply for Medicare if the Republicans win the coming election. Have a living will and a Medical Savings Account if at all possible.
The point of this diary is to emphasize the fact that a lot of people have no clue about how the Social Security System works. I do have a couple of question for anyone in the know. 1. How much does Medicare cost the General Fund each year? 2. What is the punishment for ripping off the system, other than a fine? 3. Do you remember the Gov. of Florida and his Medicare problems?