Saturday, April 24, 2004
Dominoes Falling
Thank you EEOC for making me and 12 million other people over 65 the chosen ones. The news is full of stories in the past how some seniors ate cat food or nothing to pay for medicines. How the government was warning us that Social Security was going broke. Well the Government seems to be trying to make that warning come true with the latest dump of humans on to the Medicare pile. The chairwoman of the commission said, “We are aware of the anxieties and misperceptions that have taken root”. When the next paragraphs ‘Employer-sponsored health plans help retirees pay medical expenses not covered by Medicare. Those expenses could include co-payments and deductibles, (in my case they don’t) the catastrophic cost of severe illness, the cost of preventative care, and prescription drugs, beyond what Medicare might pay’. Anxiety will definitely take root Ms.Chairwoman.
The commission members said that under the age-discrimination act it had authority to make ‘reasonable exemptions’ to the law in the public interest. I have two points to be made on that statement:
1. Are 12 million people realy considered a ‘reasonable exemption’? If so from whose side of the table?
2. Is that in the public interest or in business interest? Sorry but I see bigger dividends and larger CEO paychecks.
The big laugh in this whole article is this paragraph. A preamble to the final rule says it “is not intended to encourage employers to eliminate any retiree health benefits they may currently provide.”
I hear the dominoes starting to fall!
Spring Has Sprung 2
Remembering last fall
Bulb digger and all
Blisters galore
What was it for?
