Do Medicare Beneficiaries Only Think About Themselves?

This week I spoke with a friend about my conviction that U.S. political process needs a voice from Medicare beneficiaries advocating for a progressive and sustainable approach to Medicare. I told him that although I don't have survey data to draw on, I believe that many of us folks in the Medicare generation are worried about the impact of runaway Medicare costs on future generations. We're not all like the belligerent elders in the AARP advertisement who warn politicians - if you want my vote, don't touch my Medicare.

My friend responded with an aphorism I'd never heard before:

The true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

I do a lot of walking in the woods and love trees, so the aphorism moved me.

I went back to Erik Erickson, to review his interpretation of the stages of life. I discovered that I misremembered his schema. I mistakenly thought Erickson named the healthy approach to aging "generativity." Erickson actually posits that as the virtue for adulthood. "Wisdom" is what he ascribes to the successful 65+ folks. It's opposite is despair.

Erickson may have been on target when he formulated his views 50 years ago, but I think he's wrong for the present. "Wisdom" as he conceptualizes it involves reflecting on the meaning of one's life. That sounds passive and somewhat narcissistic. What I see, and experience, in the Medicare set, is much better described as a quest for "generativity." The question many pose for themselves is - what can I contribute to the world at this phase of life?

Current political dialogue offers two choices for Medicare policy - "don't touch Medicare" or "tinker with the mechanics - raise the age of eligibility or replace Medicare with a voucher to buy insurance."

No one is talking about a cooperative enterprise in which Medicare moves to sustainability via patients and clinicians cooperating to create a more caring, less technological, approach within an overall budget that doesn't saddle the next generations with crushing debt.

There's more than enough money in our current expenditure to provide excellent care for beneficiaries. The way I make the point to knowledgeable friends is to ask - imagine what Medicare would be like if it was guided by the best clinicians from a population-oriented program like Kaiser Permanente!

(The aphorism comes from the title of a book Wes Henderson (1928-2003), a third generation Canadian, wrote about his father Nelson. It's the advice Nelson gave Wes when Wes graduated from high school.)