Pre-boomers (those born between 1930 and 1945) are about to become big losers with no cost of living (COLA) increases in Social Security next year, a cost increase for Medicare Part B and the Medicare Advantage program set to be slashed by $100 billion.
It seems as if the "Forgotten Generation" is about to become just that, forgotten.
With so much hoopla surrounding health care reform over the summer, we may have overlooked the fact that seniors are caught in a vice grip and the financial squeeze is being applied, which is particularly uncomfortable to folks on fixed incomes.
Is it simply a coincidence that the benefits are changing in 2010, the year when all pre-boomers are going to be 65 or older, or is this an indication of a growing emphasis toward the young? It's been 35 years since Social Security (SS) recipients failed to receive an annual COLA increase.
The SS trustees determined that inflation will be so low in 2010 that they waived increases for retirees.
In fact, they project that it will remain low, meaning no increase in 2011 either.
With the economy in such a state of flux, it is puzzling how such projections can be made with any confidence, but this group decided to do it anyway.
Did the powers-that-be consider the reality that older Americans are faced with continued increases in health care costs and needed goods and services that represent a disproportionately higher portion of their expenses then the general population? An obscure hold-harmless provision in the law states that if there is a zero COLA the basic Medicare Part B premium must remain the same.
But there's a loophole that applies to one in four beneficiaries (about 11 million seniors).
It affects those who don't have the premiums withheld from their SS checks, those paying a higher Part B premium based on higher income, and those newly enrolled in Part B.
For them premiums will increase by nearly 25 percent next year and could continue to increase in the years ahead.
How much, for how long, and will it trickle down? Medicare Advantage is the private system preferred by 23 percent of the seniors in lieu of Medicare.
The government wants to reduce payments by $100 billion over the next several years.
Administration proponents claim this will reduce overpayments and subsidies to private insurance companies.
Is this a step in reducing waste, fraud and abuse as we have been promised or is it another way of reducing benefits and moving health care for seniors under the direct control of the federal government? If you haven't been worried before, maybe the above facts will serve as a wake up call and cause you to join other pre-boomers in questioning their Washington representatives about the future for America's new seniors.
Pre-boomers are on the cutting-edge of what trailing generations can expect as they grow older.
Politicians must be made aware that we won't be shut out of the debate.
Contact your elected representatives and make sure you know how they intend to address your needs in Washington.
Tell them you are part of new senior voting block, accounting for about 30 percent of the ballots cast in an off year election, which will determine if they will be going back to congress in 2010.