February 25, 2012 in Nation/World

Romney plan would hike Medicare eligibility age

David Espo Associated Press

DETROIT – Four days before critical primary elections, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney outlined a far-reaching plan Friday to delay Americans’ eligibility for Medicare and Social Security.

Romney said the gradual shift, as people live longer, is needed to steer the giant benefit programs toward economic sustainability.

Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club – in cavernous Ford Field, where the Detroit Lions football team plays – he also sought primary election support in Michigan, which votes on Tuesday along with Arizona.

Romney said previous steps to toughen government emission standards had “provided a benefit to some of the foreign automakers” at the expense of American companies. He said future changes should be worked out cooperatively between government and industry.

Campaigning in the city where he was born, Romney described himself as “a car guy” who has a Ford Mustang and a Chevy pickup and whose wife, Ann, drives “a couple of Cadillacs.” Aides said they were model year 2007 and 2010 SRX vehicles, one registered in Massachusetts and one in California.

Romney said his proposals for Medicare and Social Security would begin in 2022, meaning no current or near-retirees would be affected. He also said he favors adjustments to curtail the growth of future benefits for the relatively well-to-do, so “lower-income seniors would receive the most generous benefits.” He had previously described his Social Security proposals.

The two programs provide retirement and health care benefits to tens of millions of older Americans.

Beginning in 2022, Romney said, “we will gradually increase the Medicare eligibility age by one month each year. In the long run, the eligibility ages for both programs will be indexed to longevity so that they increase only as fast as life expectancy.”

Under current law, the age for collecting full Social Security benefits is gradually rising from 65 to 67. Medicare is available at age 65. In both cases, the age is set in law, and Romney’s suggestion that it be tied automatically to increases in Americans’ life expectancy would mark a major change.

He spoke in the run-up to a pair of primaries that mark his latest tests as he tries to break out ahead of Rick Santorum and his other persistent but underfunded rivals in the presidential race.

He is widely expected to win Arizona. Neither he nor any of his rivals is airing television ads in the state, a reliable sign that all sides view it as a closed case.

Although public and private polls in Michigan show Romney has erased much or all of an earlier deficit, he still faces a stiff challenge from Santorum in the state, where the disparity in television advertising is not as overwhelmingly in Romney’s favor as it has been elsewhere.

It is an unwritten rule of Michigan politics that presidential candidates appear before the Detroit Economic Club. Santorum addressed the group several days ago, and officials familiar with the details said Newt Gingrich’s camp had been in discussions for an appearance. A spokesman for the former House speaker did not respond to a request for comment.

Romney’s commitment caused a spike in interest, and as a result the former governor spoke in the huge stadium. He stood on a makeshift stage set up on the 35-yard line, with his audience on the stadium floor ringed by thousands of empty stadium seats. Goalpost uprights were visible above the black draping that served as his backdrop. United Auto Workers members protested outside.

The event’s optics were widely criticized. When asked who chose the venue, Romney’s campaign pointed to a letter from the Detroit Economic Club citing the 1,200-person crowd. The club blamed security concerns for moving the event from an atrium inside the stadium complex down onto the field. The Secret Service provides Romney’s security.

Later Friday, Romney campaigned deep into more conservative western Michigan, headlining a rally at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo after stopping at a restaurant in Mount Clemens.

42 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

greenlibertarian2nd on February 25 at 12:42 a.m.
The 50-60 year old cohort? They vote the highest percentage in the nation. Gonna delay their retirement, eh magic underpants?
Buh-bye, Willard.
Hello brokered GOP convention.
Buy stock in Jollytime and Orville Redenbachers.
Truly a silly season.
Barack Hussein Obama is a WONDERFUL target, and yet these clowns can’t land even a glazing punch amongst them all. The O’ swats them like flies.
Worthless losers.
greenlibertarian2nd on February 25 at 12:44 a.m.
glancing punch, not glazing.
Scoutster on February 25 at 6:29 a.m.
I just laughed out loud at this. It’s hilarious.
He sure knows how to fill a stadium. And did you see the excitement in the audience?
And, Mitt, how about details on what you are going to cut from that safety net, eh?
Two Caddies! Can he be any more tone deaf? He will be skewered if he wins the nomination. Does this guy not have any handlers at all?
This event was the Reader’s Digest version of why he won’t ever be president.
Pat O'Leary on February 25 at 6:42 a.m.
If a-wipes like Romney paid their fair share of taxes maybe we wouldn’t be having such a financial melt-down. “My wife drives a couple Cadillacs and I drive a Ford and a Chevy and I like the trees in Michigan, and I was born here”. It’s going to take more than magic underwear to get this clown elected. Maybe the Repugs are gullible enough to buy his bull, but he’ll never make it in the general election. Oh, oh, wait…I just see that Marco Rubio has converted to Mormonism. Maybe, just maybe, if he becomes Romney’s Veep running mate, two guys in magic underwear will be able to pull it off.
Lord help us.
Julia70 on February 25 at 8:39 a.m.
Yes, Mitt, we do live longer, Duh!!! Maybe it’s because we have adequate healthcare called Medicare? You are ate up with the Dumb A- -. I am 72 and still working and paying about 15% taxes, how much did you pay last year, I’ll bet ya $10,000.00 dollars, I paid more taxes than you. Oh I forgot you’re not a betting man, or was that the other DA the so called born again nut case Sanitarium? (sp)that said that? Who cares, you are both losers and you can take that to the bank, you won’t be elected as dog catcher in 2012.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 25 at 9:10 a.m.
I love how his staff “defended” the couple-of-cadillacs remark by saying one of them was a 2007 and one was a 2010 (so it’s not like they’re new or anything), and one of them is registered at their vacation home in California (so it’s not like she drives it all the time or anything).
Because if you’ve got a Cadillac at home, it makes your vacation home more comfortable if you’ve got one there too. Cuts down on the stress of getting used to a different kind of car. It’s an everyday, everyman sort of thing. I mean, who can’t relate to that?
woamike on February 25 at 9:13 a.m.
My, my. The class warriors and religious bigots are out in force this morning.
mrd on February 25 at 9:15 a.m.
I am close to retirement and my body is tired. I don’t want to have to work many more years to get medicare and I don’t want that for my kids when they get older. Romney is out of touch with average Americans no matter how many times he tries to reinvent himself for his dwindling audience. The repubs have brought out a variety of clowns I could never vote for.
BlondeSquawker on February 25 at 9:43 a.m.
woamike: “The class warriors and religious bigots are out in force this morning”
Talking about yourself again, I see.
mtharves on February 25 at 9:44 a.m.
Sure, make those folks doing tough manual labor work longer. Maybe they won’t live as long as a result and you save money on their Medicare. It’s a money saver both ways. Brilliant!
RedCedar on February 25 at 9:47 a.m.
Say what you will about Romney, but by proposing to raise the Medicare qualification age he has at least acknowledged the gorilla in the room. It was probably political suicide to do so, for all the reasons mentioned above, but if we’re ever going to beat the federal budget into something of a sustainable form, we have to deal with three unpopular things — the military, entitlements, and the tax base.
Of the three, the military ought to be the easiest since you’d think that being able to out-nuke, out-sail, and out-fly all the rest of the world combined several times over, we could back off a little. Entitlements are tough, though because even conservatives have come to love FDR’s and LBJ’s social programs now, and they mainly benefit old people who vote. Still, something has to be done with both of them, unfair as it may be, because the current trend is simply unsustainable even with tax increases. All the discretionary spending that the congresscritters love to haggle about is a drop in the bucket compared to entitlements. On taxes, the only way to raise enough revenue to cover even a reduced budget is to tax more people, not just to tax the high income people more. If we raised the income tax rate to 100% on the top 10% of earners, it still wouldn’t balance the budget. People in the middle and towards the bottom end simply have to pay more (or at least pay something), but of course that’s just as unpopular as reducing social security and medicare.
I don’t really think any of the big federal budget problems will ever really be addressed. I think they’ll just let inflation take care of it automatically, with the effect of confiscating the savings of prudent people and allowing the buying power of the existing entitlements to decrease. But I do give Romney credit this time for bringing up a very unpopular but unavoidable issue.
BlondeSquawker on February 25 at 9:48 a.m.
Womanlikemike: You know you would have come unglued had O’Bama proposed this absurd solution. But because your precious snowflake, Mitt Money, instead has done it, you will support it. Right?
BlondeSquawker on February 25 at 9:51 a.m.
Sorry, didn’t mean to steal your thunder there, Red.
Pigrobin on February 25 at 10:14 a.m.
@Julia70, my hat’s off to you, still working at age 72 and paying over $3 million dollars in taxes annually to the federal coffers. We thank you for your labors and monetary support of this great nation. Who says all the 1 per-centers are bad people. Thanks Julia!!
johnclarke on February 25 at 10:17 a.m.
Or, we could just end the Bush tax cuts.
JBlim on February 25 at 10:20 a.m.
“Romney said the gradual shift, as people live longer . . ”
Well that assumes the Democrats are in charge. If the Republicans have their way, only the rich and privileged will live longer, the underclasses won’t have the money for prescriptions and adequate medical care.
Pigrobin on February 25 at 10:31 a.m.
Or we could scrap the payroll tax cut…
JBlim, check this out to see how long your government thinks you have left to live:
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/population/longevity.html
Dazzeetrader11 on February 25 at 10:47 a.m.
Not a bad idea. Obama’s plan is worse.
Nobody expects 60 yr old to be in the salt mines. BUT surely they can work….not hard manual labor unless they chose to. I mean seriously…all you complainers don’t work manual jobs anyway…if you work at all!!
Pitch in America. Besides Obama has the Chinese working the toughjobs anyway…with Chinese steel too…
Woam’s righ in his missive above.. Whiney Americans….no wonder Americas going for 2nd class. Step up kids!!! This is no time for retirement.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 25 at 10:49 a.m.
Not a bad idea. Obama’s plan is worse.
Nobody expects 60 yr old to be in the salt mines. BUT surely they can work….not hard manual labor unless they chose to. I mean seriously…all you complainers don’t work manual jobs anyway…if you work at all!!
Pitch in America. Besides Obama has the Chinese working the toughjobs anyway…with Chinese steel too…
Woam’s right in his missive above.. Whiney Americans….no wonder Americas going for 2nd class. Step up kids!!! This is no time for retirement.
Millions of older Americans just sit all day long anyway. Sissy Dems would retire you without health care….or very limited…as is the plan Obamacare foisted on you. See what the handouts have gotten you? NOW America expects them. Soft soft soft.
force_vector on February 25 at 11:13 a.m.
If we aren’t willing to adjust our social programs to reflect actual societal conditions, we will eventually lose them.
JBlim on February 25 at 11:17 a.m.
Dazzee says “Obama has the Chinese working the toughjobs”
Oh right, that all happened on Obama’s watch. Obama did that. You really believe your own garbage, don’t you.
misjustice on February 25 at 11:35 a.m.
Why does President Barack Hussein Obama hate Chinese workers?
Dazzeetrader11 on February 25 at 11:41 a.m.
Blim…see the Golden Gate Bridge rehab….I see it frequently.
Just plain bad management by the Obama administration. Thousands of job for China…in San Francisco. THAT is the type of thing I referred to.
Not even our strrl…not even our US jobs…it’s all China. Why? They own us. Time for a change..and yes it’s this very administration that did it.
We cannot regain our financial footing when the enemy is in the WH….and gives out tax money for construction to other countries.
greenlibertarian2nd on February 25 at 12:23 p.m.
Rmoney’s California joint is a $10M tear down in one of THE toniest places in ALL of so. cal, La Jolla.
He’s tearing down the 3000 sq ft. place to build a 10,000 sq. ft. place with its ocean view.
How nice!
james_l on February 25 at 12:58 p.m.
“…see the Golden Gate Bridge rehab….I see it frequently. Just plain bad management by the Obama administration.”
This is, of course a lie. There is no Golden Gate Bridge Rehab project occurring.
There are two other Bay Area projects that Dazzed may be confusing with the Golden Gate Bridge; the Presidio Parkway/Doyle Drive project (south of the GGB) and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge project (far east of the GGB).
Both of the above named projects are managed by the state of California (Caltrans), not the Obama administration.
Only a moron could confuse things this bad; especially if you actually “I see it frequently”, as you claim.
PROFINTOX on February 25 at 1:23 p.m.
@Dazed — handout? Entitlement? Really? Well, if you are talking about situations such as illegal aliens drawing down the social programs, I completely agree, When it comes to a large percentage of the people where the government has received roughly 15% of each paycheck, I would hardly say that a return after a certain age is a handout. That is why it is called an entitlement.
Now as to reform — yes, it is absolutely necessary, for a lot of reasons. Some of them simply the fault of the politicians themselves and some of them simply structural. Personally I would rather pay a higher percentage out than have my retirement age bumped and I do not consider it being lazy simply because I want to have a few years of retirement, especially after working my a** off since I was 15 1/2 and living a financially-responsible life. If you think that is being lazy, so be it. I don’t. I know most probably disagree with me about paying more in now than having the age bumped, but from my perspective, that is easier to swallow. It needs to be accompanied by structural change however. Not only are these programs actually broke or getting really close (SS) but in the case off SS, it also basically fuels the deficit as well.
greenlibertarian2nd on February 25 at 1:33 p.m.
Please don’t feed the troll.
PROFINTOX on February 25 at 1:35 p.m.
@green: :)
oneanddone on February 25 at 2:19 p.m.
Any time any right wing whackass wants to gut my SocSec I’m fine with that. Just give me what I put in and add what the Dow has done since the 60’s. I’ll pay for my own health care and have plenty left over.
Shadedmuse on February 25 at 2:45 p.m.
Well looks like Mitton’s has blown another election.
I predict the google guy will win Michigan and Rupaul will win the crazy voters in AZ after all that state is like the head of the crazy train after all they keep re-electing Gramps insane Mcane and is twitt of a gubonator.
as for Pat oleary, you are getting your talking points from the radio godess Randi Rhodes, she was playing mittons soundbites yesterday about the trees and the cars he wanted to bankrupt with his op-ed let detroit go bankrupt but then again Mitton’s mexican dad ran AMC, what ever happend to AMC? they made the pacer and gremlin and that bubble car with big windows you need a case of windex to clean it with.
johnclarke on February 25 at 3:15 p.m.
Pigrobin on February 25 at 10:31 a.m.
Or we could scrap the payroll tax cut…
Why ? The Social Security trust is perfectly well funded and someone actually cared enough about the middle class to put a few bucks in our pocket. Since the doofus Republicans are holding up any form of tax reform then you have to think outside the box. No worries, the Republicans are all out of ammo and the tax welfare for the rich is coming to an end.
johnclarke on February 25 at 3:18 p.m.
Dazzeetrader11 on February 25 at 11:41 a.m.
Daisy, darling. You have got to either get your meds balanced out or take a long break. Your babble has become incoherent, and it’s getting worse.
avocet on February 25 at 3:33 p.m.
Great. So we’d have even more people ROJ (retired on job), doing the minimum if that (and getting away with it thanks to inept management) just to keep their health insurance benefits. *looks at a couple co-workers*
DCLacey on February 25 at 4:10 p.m.
When you have amassed $150,000,000 -$250,000,000 by hostile take overs of companies you have left in ruins along with their employees. When you make millions from off shore investments, thus pay half the income tax rate as those making 99% less! You can afford to wait till hell freezes over for health care help. Not so Mr Mitt with the rest of us 99.9%. Please go back to where the trees are just the right height and Trump is HUGE!
woamike on February 25 at 5:37 p.m.
JC,
Please explain yourself when you say:
“The Social Security trust is perfectly well funded and someone actually cared enough about the middle class to put a few bucks in our pocket.”
Perfectly well funded? SS trust fund cash has been used for general obligations for years. Money that is taken from your paycheck is immediately spent on current beneficiaries AND other stuff completely unrelated to SS. The money spent on other stuff is replaced by by IOUs the government has issued to itself. Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.
That there is a SS “lockbox” full of cash for your and other’s retirement is pure fantasy. The “lockbox” is full of worthless paper - it is nothing more than an accounting gimmick that you have apparently fallen for.
“Someone” “cares”? “Put a few bucks in our pocket”?
Very odd interpretation of how SS works. The money is one’s own money - that is to the extent he earned it and it was taken from him out of his paycheck. Anyone who receives more than he puts in is merely getting the money from his fellow citizen’s pocket.
Indie on February 25 at 5:47 p.m.
Good thing the Dems saved GM - or Miss Willard would NOT be driving a 2010 Caddy.
Shadedmuse on February 25 at 10:17 p.m.
And Mittons would have no car to strap his dog to the roof.
the only way Mittons can win in november is if President Obama straps Bo to the roof of Airforce 1 and flies to Canada, and Mittons stops talking because the more he talks the more people dont like him.
and also renounce mormons and their batizing dead jews, they have babtized anne frank 9 times and they probally have Jon Stewart Randi Rhodes Joe Liberman on a list of future jews to babtize also Mittons needs to become a re-born christian.
Because Re-born Christians will never ever vote for a Mormon.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 25 at 11:14 p.m.
Shaded actually reminded me of this hilarious website: http://alldeadmormonsarenowgay.com/
greenlibertarian on February 25 at 11:29 p.m.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on February 25 at 11:14 p.m.
Shaded actually reminded me of this hilarious website: http://alldeadmormonsarenowgay.com/
Hilarious stuff.
Shadedmuse on February 25 at 11:43 p.m.
Mitt Romney is Now gay, I just converted him, now he and Santorum can get a room.
JBlim on February 26 at 6:57 a.m.
Dazee says: “China. Why? They own us. ”
Is that why they work like dogs to build us iPads?
johnclarke on February 27 at 8:12 a.m.
woamike on February 25 at 5:37 p.m.
JC,
Please explain yourself when you say:
“The Social Security trust is perfectly well funded and someone actually cared enough about the middle class to put a few bucks in our pocket.”
I never said I agree with gubmint borrowing from the fund, but the money is invested and earning interest. There is no “funding shortfall” with SS; it is well funded.
I was refering to the payroll tax reduction. It puts money in out pockets (not much) for now. Does that explain it? All the guy is doing is trying to put some more groceries on our table with something he CAN control. That’s my view.