2/3 of the Country is rejecting the extreme Paul Ryan/GOP budget plan. Thoughts?

There are only 2 entitlements - Social security and Medicare Social security is solvent for now but runs into a little trouble down the road. The trouble is small enough that a few tweaks in how future benefits are calculated will fix it. What that would mean is that retirees 20 years from now will get a little less than currently planned or have to retire a little later - but still a lot more than current retirees get even relative to inflation.

Medicare is in bigger trouble - it goes into the red in just a few years and the red ink grows and grows. But here is the thing: Deciding not to pay for elder health care does not make the costs go away. 80% of our lifetime medical costs occur in the last 5 years of life - that is a fact that does not change no matter what program you decide to have or not have.

It is not an option to withhold medical treatment from those unable to pay, so why is it an option to not pay? To deal with medicare requires 2 things: 1. An increase in the payroll tax to cover the unavoidable forseeable costs of elder health care for the next 10-15 years 2.

An 'Apollo-level' government project investment to find ways to preserve health and reduce costs so that beyond the horizon we can see costs will be much lower. Medical researchers are pretty good at this, but becasue the money comes from for-profit medical businesses the focus is always improve health and generate revenue - not improve health to lower costs. Lower costs lowers their profits.

That's why we get MRI's for sprained ankles. No one needs an MRI for a sprain. Medicine is marching to therapies on the molecular level.

You can be sure that a few nano-particles with a trace of chemicals for specific cells is going to be a lot cheaper than cutting, burning and poisoning your body to attack your disease. Also - more than half of medicaid for the poor goes to seniors on medicare who have exhausted their benefits and assets due to health costs (medicare does not pay for everything and it does not pay indefinitely). This is part of elder health care and these costs should be coverd by medicare.

First of all, you never read Paul Ryan's plan. You are just ranting. USA Today did a good article today you should read.

They did a for and against. It can be found at http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/20... Entitlements are the #1 expense in our budget and without cost constraints, they will bankrupt the country. Is that what you want?