Dear Jeb--It's not an ENTITLEMENT When You've PAID For It

Jeb Bush at a July campaign stop in San Francisco

On Wednesday, presidential wanna-be Jeb Bush (R) spoke at an event hosted by the Koch brothers group Americans for Prosperity.  He told the attendees that he wants to completely "phase out" Medicare.  "We need to figure out a way to phase out this program."  He suggested that "people understand and agree with him on the issue."

what eye thynk:  First, he wants to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and now he wants to eliminate Medicare.  So I guess he wants to deny America's seniors--you know, people who don't have access to employer health care plans and who, being on fixed incomes, could not afford to purchase a plan on their own--access to affordable medical care so they'll die sooner and won't be such a burden on his rich buddies?  Wouldn't that be a Republican designed death panel?  Where's the screaming about that?

And exactly who are these "people who understand and agree with him?"  Nobody I know would think this is a good idea; but then I don't know the Kochs or any really rich people, so that might be why.

On Thursday, Jeb woke up to headlines saying how out of touch and wrong he is.  He tried to defend himself:  "To my point last night, here's what I said.  I said, first and foremost, whenever you get into a conversation about reforming entitlements, the first thing that you can be guaranteed of is that the left will attack you and demonize you."

Wait a minute here, Jeb.  ENTITLEMENTS?!  I paid for my Medicare with every paycheck of my life.  That is NOT an entitlement; that is MY money.  It's bad enough when the government starts to rake back my Social Security, but now you want my health lifeline too?

Let me explain that last sentence by telling a true and very personal story...

My husband worked over 30 years as a police officer. (Before you start, he never, in all his years of service, pulled his gun from its holster while on duty, so don't go there.)  He contributed to his union pension fund for all those years, taking approximately 10 years worth of contributions out to attend college.  He also spent nearly 20 years working in the private sector and paid into Social Security. 

He retired almost two years ago.  Prior to making the scary leap into the land of fixed incomes, we carefully plotted how much we needed each month.  With his 20-year pension left in the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and our social security, we would be able to live, not lavishly--we weren't going to own a Lexus or jet off to Hawaii whenever the mood hit us--but we would be able to pay our bills and have a few bucks left over for a restaurant meal once in a while.  We were content.

Then, after all the papers were signed and the retirement party was just a memory, Social Security informed us that my husband's pension was considered a windfall under the Windfall Elimination Provision.  Yes, according to the powers that be, my husbands $21,000/year pension qualified as a WINDFALL.  And here's the kicker: that "windfall" resulted in his monthly Social Security check being reduced by TWO-THIRDS.  Again, that was HIS MONEY, money that was subtracted from his paycheck on every private sector payday for 20 years.  

I don't know about you, but at the time, I thought the Windfall thing was a good idea.  You know, reduce payments to the top earners so that the system works for those on the bottom.  I never expected that $21,000 would qualify us as too affluent.

So now, 22 months into what should have been our well-planned and comfortable if not extravagant golden years, we are both working part-time.  The irony is that we are forced to continue to contribute money to Social Security that we will never see.

And now Jeb wants our Medicare too.

I used to find Wal-Mart store greeters irritating.  Now I look at them and wonder if they were caught by the same Windfall Tripwire that we were.  And if they know that Jeb believes if they'd just work harder, the government could rake back their medical coverage too.