“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped,” Hubert Humphrey, Vice President US 1965-69, 11/1/1977.
The ZERO cost of living adjustment scheduled for social security is an unveiling of the hypocrisy, cold-heartedness and brutality of this country's new liberalism--SELECTIVE morality, SELECTIVE tolerance and SELECTIVE kindness. Such is the blind-spot of the new liberalism, the inherent elder abuse incorporated into Obamacare.
Elder abuse is defined by our government (Administration for Aging) as many actions including, “The knowing, intentional, or negligent act by a caregiver or any other person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to a vulnerable adult,” “The failure by those responsible to provide food, shelter, health care, or protection for a vulnerable elder,” “The illegal taking, misuse, or concealment of funds, property, or assets of a senior for someone else's benefit,” “Inflicting mental pain, anguish, or distress on an elder person through verbal or nonverbal acts, e.g. humiliating, intimidating, or threatening.”
Obamacare legalized elder abuse.
What would you call making it illegal to use relevant insurance information such as illness history (pre-existing conditions) or drug addiction (as long as its non-tobacco), or weight as a justifiable reason to charge a group of people more in insurance premiums but allowing AGE as a justification for such an increased charge?
AGING is one of only TWO categories (tobacco use) that can legally be used to discriminate against a particular group and charge more.
What would you call it FORCING American workers to pay into Medicare/Social Security for their entire working lives only to CHANGE the provisions of Medicare so that those individuals cannot obtain the promised benefit if they survive long enough to become eligible?
What would you call a CMS push for a proposal incorporating “end of life counseling” and PAYING Medicare doctors to give such counseling that involves discussing whether medical care is “worth it” for sick seniors in order to discourage them and reduce those pesky end-of-life health care expenses in spite of the fact that an individual has paid for health insurance for a lifetime and likely has spent less than some of the chronically ill?
If there’s ONE THING that liberals don’t own it’s their own bias, their own endless compassion for some without an honest examination of who they’ll abuse in order to achieve their goals.
It’s a real weakness that makes the alleged “kindness” of liberals not only suspiciously selective but currently indicates an intentional brutality towards older fellow citizens that is to me, without precedent.
And now the COLA increase for Social Security, scheduled to be ZERO for only the third time in the history of the payments, all three in recent years.
There should be a bright side. Baby boomers should be using their inconvenient numbers to pressure for changes that will end elder abuse scheduled to make their survival irrelevant if they live to an age where the American promises and principles provide them with emotional, physical and financial security in their last years.
Because of the decision to provide a ZERO cost of living adjustment (COLA) payment to social security recipients this year, consumers, especially the “next” group of retirees who are scheduled under the PPACA to face the least benefit from their lifetime of paying into the system are getting the opportunity to stop being stupid and press for reforms to the reality of Obamacare—they will pay more for less and will be victimized by “outcome-based” medicine that will deny them care by discouraging it or making it so expensive out of pocket that dying will be their only choice. (What did you THINK all that research about how the most money is spent in the last years of life was about?)
The COLA debacle is an unexpected twist that presents baby boomers with an opportunity because it has gummed up another feature of the scam of Obamacare, the clever timing of Obamacare provisions that so effectively allowed his re-election based on lies that didn’t come to the surface until 2014’s staggering exploitation of the American public kicked in. Suddenly, current retirees who are protected from the misery (the timing scam) are facing the real brutality of Obamacare—Ageism.
Even The NY TIMES, often home to some of the most misleading articles supporting Obamacare couldn’t avoid noticing that for only the third time in its history that the Cost of Living Adjustment for social security recipients for next year will be ZERO and that this places seniors in financial peril who are also facing gigantic increased Medicare expenses. (See THE NEW YORK TIMES, Robert Pear, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/us/politics/medicare-premiums-social-security-cost-of-living.html). Mr. Pear tries desperately to paint the Democrats as the good guys, (after all this is THE NEW YORK TIMES).
The voting CURRENT oldsters who thought they were safe because of Obamacare’s TIMING that delays the sacrifice of the old for the up-and-coming generation of retirees rather than current retirees through strategies like the Independent Payment Advisory Board and increased out-of-pocket requirements and diminished coverages called “outcome based” that discourage treatments for those seniors who want to try what’s available to survive based on the “odds” that it will work, is getting noticed because of the COLA zero adjustment.
For every morally superior claim made by a politician of the right thing, the American way, there should be at least one person telling them to hang their heads in shame because of how we treat our elders and the plans we have justified for ridding ourselves of the next generation of elders. It’s a disgrace.
