A month or so ago I posted a letter from my friend Bear who was on a rant about the use of the word ‘entitlements.’ I agreed with him which brought out a fury of people telling me what the word ‘entitlement’ meant. You know, it isn’t the word ‘entitlement.’ It is the way most people SAY entitlement and what it is grouped with.
Americans are entitled to Medicare and Social Security, or at least most of them are. There are probably some exceptions. My problem comes from the snarl people have when they talk about those taking ‘entitlements.’ Those under 50 often unknowingly go into facial contortions when they utter the word. Why? If you are entitled to something, why do others resent it so much? They will be entitled also…one of these days.
I think the other thing that bothers me so much is that Medicaid is thrown in along with other forms of what we used to call ‘welfare’ to the ‘entitlements’ conversation. Now that is just down right irritating because many of the folks pulling from these programs haven’t paid in the thousands upon thousands of dollars that those of us who are entitled to Medicare and Social Security have paid. Maybe its the Medi- prefix that just make people relate Medicare and Medicaid.
To those of us who are getting close or who are already there, we resent like hell being lumped in with the medicaid crowd. Call me an elistist. I really don’t care. I worked for years and I paid into both Social Security/FICA and Medicare for what seems like forever and what also seemed like a lot of money.
If MediCARE and Social Security are going to be called ‘entitlements’ then MediCAID and other social programs need to be called something else. I know that ‘welfare’ isn’t politically correct but neither is ‘entitlement.’
Do you resent ‘entitlements’ and if so, which ones? Do you think they will be there for you? How about the programs for poor people? Do you resent those? What do we do about those less fortunate? Are they entitled to various government programs that most of them have not paid in to?
