Means Testing makes sense to me for Medicaid and Social Security. If I'm wealthy why do I need to collect Social Security? If I'm wealthy why should the government pay for my medical care? Its not like I woke this morning and found that I'm a total Leftist. It is just common sense. They say that Means Testing alone could solve the entitlements problem in perpetuity. Why do Republicans resists Means Testing?
Socialism is just theft of money via government.. Nothing will ever fix it, not means testing or anything... Thieves become poor typically so I'd say that Socialism should breed poverty. It's possible that so much has been borrowed to fund socialism world wide that future generations will be impoverished by it... it's almost a certainty that we will soon have some 20% inflation and a few years at 100%.. and really, Socialism succeeds only temporarily and only in places that don't have a big military budget... Means testing won't fix it, besides, everybody would just scramble to make sure that their means are such that they qualify, they already do that. Means testing would be a big disincentive to be an earner...
Really? You would trade being wealthy for getting free healthcare? You would limit your wealth to collect a coupla grand per month social security? So you want that government check no matter what? You sound a bit like a socialist, no?
Did you just fall off the turnip truck? People have and continue to find all sorts of loopholes to qualify for medicair/medicaid. Transferring assets out of their names are at the top of the list... As everybody knows by now, those at the top have the means to pay for the bloated healthcare costs of this country and those at the bottom don't pay a damn thing, but those in the middle are literally broken by this system.
You are turning Social Security from a trust into a tax. The whole program would need to be rewritten.
Poverty breeds socialism which breeds class war which breeds chaos which breeds opportunity which breeds individualism which breeds capitalism which breeds stratification which breeds poverty. (Just having fun.)
Oh well, by all means lets just insist on our government checks no matter what the consequence. Jeezus. Is that the republican position, checks for everyone regardless of what happens? Free medical for rich guys? Social Security for rich guys? Its madness. If that is the republican position then I am no longer a republican.
I am on your side in terms of social security. Those who dont need it shouldnt get it. However means testing medicare presensts a whole new problem. What happens to the guy who is worth a million dollars, who paid into medicare his whole life, but doesnt necessarily need it immediately? what happens later on when he needs an operation that costs a million dollars? Should this guy bankrupt himself while everyone around him just takes advantage o the government? That guy paid in an exorbitant rate his entire life, and all of a sudden he needs a million dollar operation, and that million dollar operation could bankrupt him. So should the guy who saved all his life be forced to bankrupt himself because he didnt need medicare at first? If he is poor he gets the operation for free.
That's the nexus of the problem. A million dollars just isn't what it used to be. Meanwhile the guy with nothing gets it all taken care of..hell the guy in prison gets cared for... Like I mentioned before, there are many schemers out there who have figured out ways of getting assets out of their names to qualify for public healthcare. Given the exorbitant costs of certain types of care that insurance will not foot the bill for, many people are forced into this decision (for example long term illness requiring a prolonged stay in a nursing home, etc, etc...)
I'll entertain your proposal. First, you have to define "rich" in our current upside down, Quant easing society. Rich relative to the exorbitant costs of a major illness has to be considered as well.